Cunha will go to the Supreme Court to try to delay his removal from office.
The suspended congressman is finalizing the writ of mandamus he will file with the Supreme Court against the impeachment request about to be voted on in the Chamber of Deputies; Cunha intends to prevent the vote in August and delay the process through legal means; the request, which will be presented to the Supreme Court next week, will point out alleged procedural flaws in the handling of the process for breach of parliamentary decorum.
Brasilia 247 - Suspended congressman Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ) is finalizing the writ of mandamus he will file with the Supreme Federal Court (STF) against the impeachment request about to be submitted to the Chamber's plenary. Cunha intends to prevent the vote on the impeachment request in the plenary in August and delay the process through legal means, as there are no more possible appeals in the House. The PMDB member is accused of lying to the Petrobras CPI by denying having accounts abroad, but the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), Rodrigo Janot, and the Swiss Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed the existence of accounts in the European country in Cunha's name.
The request for judicial intervention, which will be submitted next week, aims to point out alleged procedural flaws in the handling of the process for breach of parliamentary decorum in the Ethics Council and the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ).
Lawyer Marcelo Nobre has already submitted the writ for Cunha's approval, but the PMDB member is still analyzing which points he will raise before the Supreme Court. The likely scenario is that the former Speaker of the House will point to the disqualification of the rapporteur for the impeachment request, Representative Marcos Rogério (DEM-RO).
The legislator should also complain that the process suffered illegal amendments and question the roll-call vote of the council members in the session that approved the request for loss of mandate.
Allies of Cunha admit there is no prospect of winning the appeal in court, especially since in previous decisions the Supreme Court justices preferred not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Chamber of Deputies. According to reporting by Estadão, they also believe that Cunha's removal from office will be scheduled for debate next month anyway, and that it would be a "miracle" to delay the case until after the municipal elections.
Cunha's successor as Speaker of the House, Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), stated that he plans to schedule the impeachment request for the second week of August, but that the process will only be considered if there is a quorum of more than 460 deputies in the plenary session.