Brazil's besieged president loses legal battle, faces impeachment

PanARMENIAN.Net - Brazil's besieged President Dilma Rousseff lost a major battle on Wednesday, October 7 when the federal audit court rejected her government's accounts from last year, paving the way for her opponents to try to impeach her, according to Reuters.

In a unanimous vote, the Federal Accounts Court, known as the TCU, ruled that Rousseff's government manipulated its accounts in 2014 to disguise a widening fiscal deficit as she campaigned for re-election.

The ruling, the TCU's first against a Brazilian president in nearly 80 years, is not legally binding but it will be used by opposition lawmakers to argue for impeachment proceedings against the unpopular leftist leader in an increasingly hostile Congress. Rousseff's office said there were no legal grounds for the ruling and maintained in a statement that the audit court unduly penalized actions taken by her Workers' Party government to maintain social programs for Brazil's poor.

Opposition leaders hugged and cheered when the ruling was announced in Congress, though it was not clear whether they have enough support to impeach the president despite a widening corruption scandal engulfing state-oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA) and Brazil's deepest recession in 25 years.

In a last-ditch bid to win time, the government had asked the Supreme Court to delay Wednesday's ruling, but it refused.

Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams said the government would appeal again to the top court to overthrow the audit decision.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rousseff's government failed to get enough support in Congress to back her efforts to rebalance Brazil's public accounts. Rousseff is also reeling from a ruling on Tuesday that cleared the way for a separate probe on alleged irregularities in her re-election campaign last year.

Congress put off for a fourth time a session on whether to back or overturn her vetoes of two spending bills after her government was unable to obtain a quorum despite a cabinet reshuffle last week meant to bolster her support.

The congressional setback calls into question her ability to raise taxes to plug a widening budget gap that led the Standard & Poor's rating agency to strip Brazil of its investment-grade rating last month.