Brazil's Rousseff Begins Testimony at Senate Impeachment Trial
August 29 2016 - 8:40AM
Dow Jones News
BRASÍ LIA—Brazil's suspended president, Dilma Rousseff, began
testimony Monday in her Senate impeachment trial during the final
phase of a process that is widely expected to end with her
ouster.
Ms. Rousseff is accused of violating budget laws by delaying
government payments to a state-controlled bank, in effect forcing
the lender to provide her administration with allegedly illegal
short-term loans that made the country's budget situation appear
better than it was. Ms. Rousseff has denied wrongdoing.
Two-thirds, or 54, of the Senate's 81 lawmakers need to vote
against her for her to be ousted. Any less than that and she'll be
immediately returned to office.
The beleaguered president was suspended from office in mid-May,
when the Senate voted to hold the trial that is now in its final
stage. Her vice president, Michel Temer, has been acting president
since then, and will finish out the two years and four months
remaining in her term if she is convicted.
The decision is widely expected to go against the president. In
a procedural vote earlier this month that would have ended the
process had it gone in favor of Mr. Rousseff, 59 senators voted to
approve a report calling for her removal and 21 voted against
it.
"From a market standpoint, the impeachment of President Dilma
should be close to fully priced," said Alberto Ramos, an economist
at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Ms. Rousseff arrived at the Senate carrying roses and
accompanied by her predecessor and mentor, President Luiz Iná cio
Lula da Silva, who faces legal problems of his own stemming from
accusations he personally benefited from the bid-rigging and
bribery scandal at state-controlled oil company Petró leo
Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras. Mr. da Silva has denied
wrongdoing.
When they entered the Senate through its crowded main entrance,
a group of supporters, including senators from Ms. Rousseff's
Workers' Party, shouted chants in her favor.
A small crowd also gathered on the broad boulevard in front of
the Senate. The long mall that is the center point of this modern
capital has been divided in half lengthwise by a fence intended to
separate Ms. Rousseff's supporters from her detractors.
Ms. Rousseff has long contended that the impeachment proceedings
amount to an attempted coup d'é tat by her political enemies
determined to overturn her close re-election in 2014 and turn back
her and Mr. da Silva's anti-poverty efforts.
Write to Paulo Trevisani at paulo.trevisani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 29, 2016 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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