MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian opposition insists Supreme Court must investigate Rousseff

Two weeks ago the Supreme Court ruled out investigations against Rousseff arguing she can only be charged for actions carried out during her presidency.

Brazil's opposition has announced that it will ask the Supreme Federal Court to investigate President Dilma Rousseff for the Petrobras corruption scandal in which her party's treasurer Joao Vacari is also implicated.

 The investigation petition brought together four main opposition groups, namely Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Popular Socialist Party, the Democrats and Solidarity party, who were encouraged by mass protests against Rousseff on Sunday.

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled out investigations against Rousseff after Brazilian Attorney General Rodrigo Janot argued that the president can only be charged for actions carried out during his or her presidency.

During the investigations, Rousseff was named by a former senior Petrobras official as an indirect beneficiary in the corruption network. However these incidents allegedly occurred before 2010 when she was not the president.

Another factor that encouraged the opposition was the imputation of the treasurer of Rousseff's Workers' Party, PT, after he was charged by the Public Prosecutor's Office on Monday for his involvement in the scandal.

However PT president Rui Falcao defended Vacarri's innocence and said that he would continue to retain his position. He further said that the treasurer would be dealt with according to the norms of the party if he is found guilty of illegal transactions.

Meanwhile Brazilian police arrested five former oil-giant Petrobras officials, two of whom accepted their guilt and named others who were party to the crime in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Likewise Dutch firm SBM Offshore, under investigation for allegedly bribing Petrobras for contracts, said Wednesday that they were negotiating with Brazilian authorities about sharing information on the case.

The Sao Paulo media also revealed that a new scandal emerged this week when the Brazilian police uncovered a network that allegedly diverted around 31.2 million dollars to Caixa Economica Federal, the second largest public bank of Brazil.