Dilma Rousseff trial told she broke no laws

A former economy minister of Brazil has testified that Dilma Rousseff, the country’s suspended president, did not break any laws justifying impeachment. Rousseff, 68, is accused of taking illegal state loans to help bridge budget shortfalls and mask the true state of the economy during her 2014 re-election campaign. Nelson Barbosa, the former minister, and […]

A former economy minister of Brazil has testified that Dilma Rousseff, the country’s suspended president, did not break any laws justifying impeachment.
Rousseff, 68, is accused of taking illegal state loans to help bridge budget shortfalls and mask the true state of the economy during her 2014 re-election campaign.
Nelson Barbosa, the former minister, and Ricardo Lodi, a Rio State University law professor, were the final defence witnesses brought to testify on Saturday that Rousseff did not break the law or harm the economy, which is now in deep recession.
“There is nothing remotely illegal,” Barbosa said. “You cannot act retroactively with a new interpretation of the law.”
The same argument was delivered on Friday by a first batch of Rousseff witnesses who said that such budgetary manoeuvres have long been common practice and that Brazil’s economic decline was entirely unrelated.