Michel Temer denies wrongdoing after former cabinet colleague’s claims place him directly in line of fire in corruption scandal

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Brazilian president, Michel Temer, faced a crisis on Friday after a former cabinet colleague placed him directly in the line of fire of corruption allegations.

The scandal, which immediately forced the resignation of a key aide, looks set to pose the greatest challenge yet to a six-month-old administration that is also struggling with a dire recession and political turmoil which led earlier this year to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.



The crisis exploded when the former culture minister Marcelo Calero alleged to federal investigators that Temer put pressure on him to sidestep a heritage preservation order that was holding up construction on a tower block in the north-eastern city of Salvador.



An apartment in the luxury residence had been bought by the president’s close ally Geddel Vieira Lima, who stepped down on Friday as minister in charge of relations with Brazil’s congress as a result of the revelations.

Temer has denied wrongdoing, but he is now in the sights of opposition politicians, who say they will use the case to open impeachment proceedings.



Although this is unlikely to pass a congress dominated by government supporters, it could antagonise the public and complicate Temer’s efforts to push through a package of austerity measures.



Much is likely to depend on secret recordings that Calero reportedly made of conversations with the president. The content has yet to be made public, but any suggestion of influence peddling could prompt the public prosecutor and supreme court to open an investigation.



The latest upheaval comes at a sensitive moment for the administration, which is planning to propose a pension reform bill as a step towards rebalancing state finances. The measure faces fierce opposition from unions.



Brazil’s political system is widely seen as discredited in the wake of the Lava Jato investigation, which has implicated more than 50 senators and deputies. Public fury has been further fuelled by recent congressional attempts to pass an amnesty bill for campaign finance violations.



Carlos Alberto de Melo of the São Paulo-based Institute of Research and Education said Temer is already hamstrung by unpopularity and the latest allegations are grave enough to make his situation worse.

“There is an agenda of unpopular reforms, and a situation of moral crisis doesn’t help,” he said.