Brazil's vice president faces impeachment proceedings

Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer faced an impeachment process filed by independent deputy Cabo Daciolo on Thursday.

In a supporting document, Daciolo said that Temer violated the Fiscal Responsibility Law by signing decrees, which illegally authorized financial loans.

After a week in which President Dilma Rousseff has been facing attempts to impeach her, her main coalition partner Temer, who has hinted strongly he will join the push to the impeachment process, has to face his own impeachment. Daciolo asked for his proposal to be added to the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff.

The attack against Rousseff criticized her for alleged fiscal malpractice last year. According to Daciolo, Temer should be impeached for having signed off on the very same maneuvers.

This new twist added a new complex element to Brazil's delicate political situation.

Should Rousseff and Temer both be impeached, the third person in the line of succession is Eduardo Cunha, president of the Chamber of Deputies. Cunha, who allowed the opening of impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, has also been facing an investigation by the Chamber's ethics committee for corruption, which might see him lose his position.

The Brazilian Court of Audit has found irregularities in the 2014 transfer of funds from the National Treasury to public banks to cover the government's social programs.

This move was denounced as repaying a credit from public banks to the central government, which is forbidden by Brazil's Law of Fiscal Responsibility.

The government has refuted this evaluation, saying this situation occurred during brief periods before the banks were compensated and the balances were restored.

Sources: XINHUA