Renan is the most untouchable figure in the Republic.

Considering that Temer is an interim president of the Republic; that Dilma is a suspended president of the Republic; that Cunha is a suspended Speaker of the House classified as a "delinquent" by the Attorney General's Office; and that his successor, Waldir Maranhão, is a Speaker of the House prevented from presiding by the suspended president, the President of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, is the highest authority in the Brazilian hierarchy in full exercise of his functions. He can be considered the most powerful man in the country.

And he is also the record holder for investigations at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) for suspected corruption: 12. Nine of which are related to Operation Lava Jato. It gives the impression that, in the current situation, the more accusations a politician faces, the more power they acquire and the higher positions they occupy. It's rewarded corruption.

He has been in the crosshairs of the Justice system since 2007. The Renangate scandal began on May 25th, with the revelation by Veja magazine that the construction company Mendes Júnior was paying 12 reais per month to journalist Mônica Veloso, with whom Renan had a son.

From then on, he was accused of: buying radio stations in Alagoas, in partnership with João Lyra, using front men; engaging in influence peddling for the Schincariol brewery in the purchase of a soft drink factory, with a multimillion-dollar reward; using fake invoices in the name of shell companies to prove his income; setting up a scheme to embezzle public money in ministries controlled by the PMDB party; and another scheme to spy on senators opposed to the Lula government.

Six complaints were filed with the Senate Ethics Committee requesting his removal from office. He resigned from the presidency, but not from his mandate. And he remained in hiding.

None of this prevented him from being elected senator for the state of Alagoas in 2010 and, on February 1, 2013, president of the Senate for the 2013-2014 term with 56 votes.

In June 2013, he was targeted by the "forarenan" movement, which officially delivered a popular petition with 1,6 million signatures. It didn't catch on.

He continued to be relentlessly denounced after being re-elected president of the Senate: Paulo Roberto Costa stated that the "payments" passed on to the senator in the Petrobras scandal "exceeded the ceiling of the quota passed on to the PT, PMDB and PP": the bribe exceeded 3% so that "an amount could be included for Renan".

In December 2015, Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki authorized the lifting of bank and tax secrecy for Renan Calheiros, suspected of involvement in fraud related to the contracting of the Estaleiro Rio Tietê consortium by Transpetro in 2010.

The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) received another request for investigation against him from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) in April 2016 regarding the alleged receipt of bribes, for the payment of his personal expenses by the construction company Mendes Júnior, in exchange for presenting amendments that would benefit the contractor. The PGR is investigating a financial transaction of 5,7 million reais by the president of the Senate.

Also in April, the rapporteur for Operation Zelotes, Minister Cármen Lúcia of the Supreme Federal Court, opened an investigation to look into his alleged involvement and that of Senator Romero Jucá in the sale of amendments to provisional measures related to the automotive sector issued by the federal government. This is the 12th investigation against him in the Supreme Court.

Until April 2016, Renan was facing nine lawsuits in the Lava Jato corruption investigation.

On June 2, 2016, the Supreme Federal Court authorized the release of Nestor Cerveró's plea bargain testimony in the Lava Jato corruption investigation, in which he stated that, in 2012, Senator Renan Calheiros summoned him to his Senate office to complain about the 'lack of bribes'.

The most recent accusation came from Sérgio Machado, nominated by Renan to be president of Transpetro, who accused him of being the biggest beneficiary of money diverted from contracts with the state-owned company, with 32 million reais.

But none of that was enough to even make him a defendant.

Either Renan is the victim of a series of baseless accusations and is one of the most wronged figures in Brazilian history, or he possesses superpowers that have transformed him into the most untouchable figure in the Republic.

I'm betting all my chips on that last option.