Pimenta: 'Cunha's resignation is not enough. He needs to be impeached.'

Rio Grande do Sul 247 - Despite agreeing with the resignation of federal deputy Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ) from the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, federal deputy Paulo Pimenta (PT-RS) stated that the definitive removal of the PMDB member "is part of a strategy orchestrated with the coup plotter Michel Temer to save Cunha from impeachment."

"Temer is in the field working to save Cunha. And everyone knows, and it becomes more evident every day, that the coup was a strategy to remove an honest President, like Dilma Rousseff - who never interfered in any investigation - to bring to the Planalto Palace a criminal scheme with the objective of obstructing justice and saving parliamentarians investigated for corruption, in what the political group close to Michel Temer called a 'national agreement'," said the parliamentarian.

A reflection of the close relationship between Temer and Cunha occurred at the end of April, when the then Vice-President of the Republic said he received "extraordinary help in the Federal Chamber" from the congressman. "If you want to give Congressman Eduardo Cunha one of the most complicated tasks, he simplifies it because he works very hard," he stated.

According to Temer, when Cunha speaks, "his faith is present." "And faith is what mobilizes people. So I entrust the difficult tasks to Eduardo Cunha's faith."Watch the video here.With the congressman's resignation from the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, Temer lost his ally, whom he called a "tireless political and legal fighter."

In March of this year, Cunha became a defendant in the first criminal case in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) originating from the investigations of Operation Lava Jato, because on the 3rd of that month, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) accepted, by a vote of 10 to 0, the indictment of the Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, against Eduardo Cunha for passive corruption and money laundering. The PMDB member is accused of demanding and receiving at least US$ 5 million in bribes from a contract between the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard and Petrobras. 

On June 22nd, the congressman became a defendant following a second accusation, this time for having undeclared accounts in Switzerland. Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki, rapporteur of the case against the PMDB member, and his colleagues on the Court understood that the congressman is both the beneficiary and controller of the Swiss accounts. According to the rapporteur, the evidence presented by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) proves that the parliamentarian received R$ 5 million in bribes in his trust accounts, with the aim of concealing the origin of the funds.

During his statement, the Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, reaffirmed that "the Orion account, documented in Switzerland, belongs to Mr. Eduardo Cunha." "It contains his address in Brazil, a copy of his passport, American visa, personal and professional information, date of birth, and signature," he said.

In addition to the accusation of negotiating bribes for the shipyard contract and lying to the Petrobras CPI by denying having accounts abroad, Cunha faces a third accusation. One of the informants in 'Lava Jato', businessman Ricardo Pernambuco Júnior, from Carioca Engenharia, stated that companies linked to the construction of Porto Maravilha, in Rio de Janeiro, would have to pay R$ 52 million in bribes [about 1,5% of the total value of the Certificates of Potential for Construction Area (Cepac)] to Cunha (see here).