Brazil bar association calls for President s impeachment

Brasilia May 22 (IANS) Brazil s bar association has called President Michel Temer s impeachment after a tape revealed in which he agreed to bribe former Speaker Eduardo Cunha into silence.

In a statement the Order of Attorneys of Brazil (OAB) said that its federal council decided on Sunday to call for Temer s impeachment and urged the Chamber of Deputies to begin the process Xinhua news agency reported.

The OAB s federal council has representatives from Brazil s 27 states among which 25 voted for impeachment one against and one abstained.

The legal body also said it had formed a commission to analyse the documents released last week by the Supreme Court after the tape was turned over by business mogul Joesley Batista owner of the JBS meatpacking giant.

The Supreme Court has also opened an investigation against Temer for alleged obstruction of justice.

The OAB s rapporteur Flavio Pansieri said that Temer had forsaken his duty to report crimes that he had heard during his meeting with Batista in March.

In 1992 the OAB called for the impeachment of then-president Fernando Collor de Mello who resigned before being impeached on corruption charges.

In 2016 the legal body also called for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

By Sunday the Chamber of Deputies had received at least nine requests for Temer s impeachment.

However Temer has refused to resign claiming that Batista s tape had been doctored and that he has done nothing wrong.

--IANS
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