Court suspends Lower House Speaker

Brazil’s top court has suspended Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha from his mandate, following a request by the country’s attorney general, officials say. He has been accused of trying to obstruct corruption investigations against him and intimidate congressmen. Mr Cunha is an outspoken critic of President Dilma Rousseff and has led an impeachment drive against […]

Brazil’s top court has suspended Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha from his mandate, following a request by the country’s attorney general, officials say.
He has been accused of trying to obstruct corruption investigations against him and intimidate congressmen.
Mr Cunha is an outspoken critic of President Dilma Rousseff and has led an impeachment drive against her.
She is likely to be suspended from office for 180 days in a Senate vote next week.
Mr Cunha is formerly accused of bribery and money laundering as part of Operation Car Wash, or Lava Jato, which looks into a corruption scheme at the state-owned oil company, Petrobras.
He is accused of taking $5m (£3.2m) in bribes to secure contracts with the company. He denies the allegations.
Under Brazil’s constitution, he was the third in line for the presidency.