{"id":66,"date":"2016-09-12T21:04:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T21:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2016-09-12T21:04:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T21:04:57","slug":"brazils-ex-speaker-faces-losing-seat-over-swiss-bank-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2016\/09\/12\/brazils-ex-speaker-faces-losing-seat-over-swiss-bank-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil’s ex-Speaker faces losing seat over Swiss bank accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC:<\/strong><\/span>The ex-Speaker of Brazil’s lower house, Eduardo Cunha, faces being stripped of his seat amid accusations he lied about undeclared Swiss bank accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Newspaper O Globo<\/a> (in Portuguese) counts 300 representatives who will vote against him later on Monday – well above the 257 required.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Cunha is widely regarded as the architect of the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff.<\/span><\/p>\n

He denies wrongdoing and has said her supporters are seeking revenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Rousseff was impeached for moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

Swiss information<\/span><\/h2>\n

Mr Cunha is also being investigated by the Supreme Court for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes to secure contracts with state oil giant, Petrobras.<\/span><\/p>\n

Petrobras is at the centre of a massive kickbacks scandal which cost the company $2bn (\u00a31.5bn) and has led to the arrest of dozens of lawmakers and top businessmen.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least three businessmen have said under interrogation that they paid bribes to Mr Cunha, which they deposited in his overseas accounts. If he is voted out of his seat he will lose the partial immunity from prosecution that comes with being an elected representative.<\/span><\/p>\n

In March 2015 Mr Cunha stated that he did not have “any type of account anywhere that is not declared on my income tax”.<\/span><\/p>\n

But authorities in Switzerland later gave information to a corruption inquiry in Brazil stating that Mr Cunha and his wife, Claudia Cruz, were beneficiaries of secret accounts worth about $5m (\u00a33.7m). Mr Cunha said he did not control the Swiss accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Cunha lost a last-minute bid to postpone Monday’s vote. His colleagues in the lower house of Brazilian politics will vote on his position at 19:00 local time (22:00 GMT).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Timeline:<\/span><\/h2>\n