Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress who led the drive to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, was detained by federal police on Wednesday as part of a widespread corruption investigation.
Cunha faces charges of money laundering, corruption and tax evasion and has been cited in multiple investigations. The former deputy has denied the charges against him. In a Facebook comment posted after his detention he said his lawyers would challenge the “absurd” decision.
The detention of one of Brazil’s most powerful politicians, who last year initiated the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, has sent shock waves through capital city, Brasilia. Last month Cunha was stripped of his mandate for lying to Congress about his offshore bank accounts. He subsequently promised to write a book revealing the inner workings of Brazilian politics.
Alessandro Molon, an opposition lawmaker, said Cunha’s detention “will result in a plea-bargaining testimony that could destabilize the [government of new President Michel Temer].” But members of the ruling coalition insisted that the latest development would have no effect on the government’s overhaul agenda.