Brazil is bracing for a fresh bout of political turmoil after the president, Michel Temer, became the country’s first sitting head of state to be formally charged with a crime.

Less than a year after taking power, the deeply unpopular leader was formally accused of corruption by the attorney general Rodrigo Janot on Monday night and could now face a lower house vote on whether he should be tried by the supreme court for taking bribes.

In a damning indictment to the supreme court, Janot alleged Temer took millions of dollars in bribes from meat-packing giant JBS. The attorney general said the president had “fooled Brazilian citizens” and compromised the image of the country.

Temer said on Tuesday that he was the victim of a political defamation campaign. “I have been denounced for passive corruption without having received anything of value. Where is the concrete proof that I received something of value?” he said in a statement made before journalists in the Planalto Palace.

As he has done repeatedly, the president turned on his accusers, insisting Janot and his supporters were damaging the national interest. “They want to paralyze the country, they want to paralyze the government,” he said. “I will not run away from the battles, nor the war that lies before us.”

Operation Car Wash: The biggest corruption scandal ever? Read more

The ruling coalition currently has sufficient votes to defend the president in Congress, where a two-thirds majority would have to approve a trial. But the looming battle will further undermine the credibility of Temer, whose approval ratings have slumped to 7%.

His predecessor Dilma Rousseff – who was ousted in an impeachment plot in May 2016 – was quick to note that her former running mate was now accused of greater crimes than those for which she was removed from office last year.

“The result of the 2016 coup: leaving the country in the hands of the only president indicted for corruption,” she tweeted.

Janot launched an investigation last month into Temer for bribery, obstruction of justice and activity in a criminal organization.

These allegations followed the release of a secret recording of a late-night conversation earlier this year between Temer and the JBS executive Joesley Batista, in which the president appeared to endorse hush money payoffs to former house speaker Eduardo Cunha, a member of Temer’s party who is serving a 15-year sentence for corruption. Police have since confirmed the authenticity of the recording and said there is sufficient evidence to indict the president.

“The circumstances of this meeting [with Batista] – at night and without any register in the official schedule of the president of the Republic – reveal the intent not to leave traces of the criminal actions already taken,” Janot claimed.

Temer has resisted pressure to stand down and tried to demonstrate leadership last week by making an official visit to Norway and Russia. But his attempt to shift the focus backfired when Norway’s prime minister, Erna Solberg, publicly lectured him on the need for Brazil to deal with its corruption woes.

Norway also halved its contribution to an Amazon rainforest fund due to the Brazilian government’s failure to address accelerating deforestation.

Analysts say Temer’s position is weakening as major news outlets turn against him and some allies – such as former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso – call on him to resign.

“Temer has never been so fragile,” said Lúcio Flávio Rodrigues de Almeida, a politics professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. “His support levels are at a low and continue to fall. There is also a strike under way. This make make him suffer pressure even from his allies. He is on a tightrope.”

However, the president still has the backing of the leader of the lower house, Rodrigo Maia, who could block the judicial process. The main business group, the National Confederation of Industries, also continues to endorse him in the hope that he will push through pension and labour reforms which will help companies.

Temer – a constitutional scholar – has changed justice minister twice this year in an attempt to strengthen his hand when dealing with judges, prosecutors and police, but time could wear him and his congressional majority down, particularly if Janot files other accusations.

“This crisis will not be solved today or even this week. There is a big change of this dragging out for a long time and perhaps only coming to a conclusion towards the end of the year,” said Rogério Arantes, a political scientist at the University of São Paulo. “Temer has the capacity to resist, due to his base in Congress, which needs to authorise the accusations against the president. This fact might help him in the next days and weeks, but in the next months, it’s impossible to say.”

His fate is likely to depend on whether ruling party legislators consider him a liability ahead of next year’s presidential election or whether they feel he can push through unpopular reforms.

“The proximity to the voters at this point could be an important factor in determining whether his allies will continue their support,” said Mara Telles, a professor at Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Additional reporting by Shanna Hanbury</s>SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The top federal prosecutor in Brazil, Rodrigo Janot, filed corruption charges against President Michel Temer with the country’s Supreme Court (STF) on Monday. This is the first time in history a sitting President has been charged with a crime in Brazil.

The charges are based on investigations linked to information given to officials by businessman Joesley Batista in his plea bargaining agreement. Also charged was President Temer’s close ally, Rodrigo Santos da Rocha Loures, who supposedly accepted R$500,000 in bribes from Batista in the name of President Temer.

“Between March and April 2017, with free and conscious will, the President of the Republic Michel Miguel Temer Lulia, taking advantage of his position as head of the Executive Power and national political leadership, received for himself, through Rodrigo Santos da Rocha Loures, an undue advantage of R$500,000 offered by Joesley Batista, president of the company J & F Investimentos SA, whose payment was made by the executive of J & F Ricardo Saud,” says the charges presented by Janot.

The charges will now be sent to the Chamber of Deputies to be analyzed by the Lower House. If accusations are accepted by lawmakers, the process will return to the Supreme Court and President Temer will be suspended from office for up to 180 days, while the Court judges the case.

On Monday morning, before the charges were filed, President Temer gave a statement where he focused on reforms, stating that his administration’s proposed agenda is the most ambitious” of recent times. “There is no plan B. We have to move on, so nothing will destroy us, neither me nor my ministers,” he said.

Hours after the charges were filed, Brazil’s Federal Police sent the Supreme Court a final report on its investigations into the JBS allegations. In the document, the federal police say that President Michel Temer and former minister Geddel Vieira Lima tried to hinder investigations.</s>Brazil's top prosecutor slapped President Michel Temer with a lengthy indictment Monday night, charging the embattled leader with corruption. The allegations, which include accepting millions of dollars in bribes and approving hush money, make Temer the first sitting president in the country's history to be charged with a crime.

Among the allegations laid out by Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot: Temer reportedly took a bribe of more than $150,000 from the chief of food-packing giant JBS; appears to have been recorded consenting to the payment of hush money to a jailed politician; and, according to The New York Times, is charged with obtaining promises for a further $11 million in JBS bribes.

Temer, who has long defended his innocence, called the indictment a "soap opera plot" on Tuesday.

"I say without fear of being wrong that the accusation is fiction," he told reporters, as translated by The Associated Press.

Still, this doesn't spell an end for Temer, who has endured a raft of scandals emerging from a massive anti-corruption probe since he replaced Dilma Rousseff after her impeachment last year.

The country's lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, must decide whether to allow the indictment to proceed. It'll take a two-thirds majority in the chamber to suspend Temer for up to 180 days and allow him to be tried by Brazil's Supreme Court.

There's significant skepticism that such a strong majority will take shape among this current crop of lawmakers, many of whom count themselves allies of the president despite his abysmal approval rating among voters — which, according to a recent poll cited by multiple media outlets, hovers in the single digits.

"Even though the president is clearly weaker than he was before, he still has enough political capital to fend off any threat to his presidency," the Eurasia consultancy told the AP. "Lawmakers are unwilling to jump the Temer government's ship when there is no clear ship to jump to."

This strong support in the Legislature might be why Janot filed only a corruption indictment Monday. The prosecutor is widely expected to charge Temer with further crimes, including obstruction of justice. But with each new charge, the Chamber of Deputies must vote anew, and many foresee Temer's support eroding each time lawmakers are forced to publicly defend him — particularly with their own nationwide elections approaching next year, Reuters notes.

"If this grinds on with multiple votes, you may start to see a lack of governability," one top lawmaker told the wire service. "In that case, there will be defections, and colleagues may start to move against Temer."

And all the while, Temer hopes to press ahead with reforms to combat Brazil's recession by rolling back labor laws and pension regulations — reforms that, in their own right, have drawn massive protests in the country.</s>Embattled in Congress and unpopular on the streets, President Michel Temer has now been charged with corruption by Brazil’s top prosecutor in the wake of a plea bargain signed by executives of meatpacking company JBS. It is the first time that a sitting Brazilian president has been charged, but Temer has pledged to stay in office. In less than two months, he could be suspended from office, raising even more doubts about Brazil’s future until October 2018 general elections.

Here are the next steps in Temer’s case:

After the formal accusation by Attorney Rodrigo Janot, the chief justice on Brazil’s top court, Carmen Lucia, will request that the Chamber of Deputies authorize or reject the opening of proceedings against the president. Lower House Speaker Rodrigo Maia will send the request to a commission that analyzes constitutional and judicial affairs.

The head of the commission, deputy Rodrigo Pacheco of Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, will pick a rapporteur who will have up to seven sessions to finish his report. Temer’s lawyers will have up to 10 sessions to mount his defense. The commission will shape how the case is presented, but regardless of its recommendation it will be voted on by the full house.

Temer will be suspended from office for up to 180 days if two-thirds of the 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies vote against him and the Supreme Court agrees. Maia would take over in the interim while Temer is put on trial. If the two thirds are not reached, the charge would be suspended until the end of Temer’s term, which is Dec. 31, 2018.

If Temer is absolved by the court, he would be allowed to return to office. The same would happen if Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country’s highest court, doesn’t reach a verdict in the 180 days of the trial. If Temer is found guilty, he could be jailed. The corruption allegation carries a sentence of between two and 12 years. Because Brazil currently has no vice president since Temer, previously the vice president, took over from ousted President Dilma Rousseff, it is unclear what would happen in such a situation. Many scholars believe Maia would finish his term while others think new elections would have to be set.

The same process Temer faces for the corruption charge could be repeated two more times soon. Temer is also being investigated for alleged obstruction of justice and being a member of a criminal organization. If Janot comes forward with those two charges, lawmakers will have to make a decision. Many observers believe that Janot may be doing things one at a time to force lawmakers to vote several times. Many allies of Temer have struggled with whether to continue supporting him or break away with an eye toward elections next year.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>(CNN) Brazil once again has a president embroiled in scandal.

Brazilian prosecutors have filed criminal charges of "passive corruption" against President Michel Temer, state-run news agency Agencia Brasil reported Monday.

The charges, which Brazilian Attorney General Rodrigo Janot filed with the federal Supreme Court, came after a secret recording surfaced of a discussion between Temer and Joesley Batista, the president of JBS, a food processing company. In the recordings, Batista can be heard talking about paying bribes.

Temer said the recording was doctored.

The complaint against the President says that Batista sent a $152,000 payment to Temer, which was received in a briefcase by former federal lawmaker Rodrigo Rocha Loures, who also was charged in the case. The passive corruption charge means that the President was to have received the payment through an intermediary.

"I know what I did," Temer said following the release of the tapes. "And I know my actions were right."

So far, his presidency has been unpopular, with his approval rating in the single digits. The prospect of a second Brazilian president being forced out of office in less than a year has unsettled markets and investors.

Brazil faces one of the worst and longest recessions in recent history.

Two-thirds of the lower house of the National Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, would need to vote in favor of Temer facing trial. If 342 legislators accept the charge, it will head to the Supreme Court for trial. If the case proceeds that way, the President would be removed from office for 180 days, according to Agencia Brasil.</s>Brazil's top federal prosecutor charged President Michel Temer on Monday with accepting bribes, the first of what is expected to be a series of graft allegations against the deeply unpopular leader in the coming weeks.

BRASILIA: Brazil's top federal prosecutor charged President Michel Temer on Monday with accepting bribes, the first of what is expected to be a series of formal graft charges against the deeply unpopular leader in the coming weeks.

Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot delivered the charges to the Supreme Court, marking a stinging blow to Temer and the first time the public prosecutor has presented charges against a sitting Brazilian president.

Under Brazilian law, the lower house of Congress must now vote on whether to allow the tribunal to try the conservative leader, who replaced impeached leftist President Dilma Rousseff just last year.

Lawmakers within Temer's coalition are confident they have the votes to block the two-third majority required to proceed with a trial. But they warn that support may wane if congressmen are forced to vote several times to protect Temer - whose popularity is languishing in single-digits - from trial.

Temer's office and his attorney, Antonio Mariz, did not respond to requests for comment. Temer has repeatedly said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Temer was charged in connection with a graft scheme involving the world's largest meatpacker, JBS SA. Executives said in plea-bargain testimony the president took nearly US$5 million in bribes for resolving tax matters, freeing up loans from state-run banks and other matters.

Joesley Batista, one of the brothers who control JBS, recorded a conversation with Temer in which the president appears to condone bribing a potential witness. Batista also accused Temer and aides of negotiating millions of dollars in illegal donations for his Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).

For more than three years, investigators in Brazil have uncovered stunning levels of corruption enveloping the political class and business elites. Much of it centred on companies paying billions of dollars in bribes to politicians and executives at state-run enterprises for lucrative contracts.

Temer and one-third of his cabinet, as well as four former presidents and dozens of lawmakers are under investigation or already charged in the schemes.

The scandals reduce the chances that Temer can push through reforms crucial for Latin America's biggest economy to rebound from its worst recession on record.

Key lawmakers in Temer's alliance told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, they will halt work on proposed labour reforms if forced to vote on charges against the president.

Temer's supporters say they have between 250 and 300 votes in the 513 seat lower house to block a trial. But the president is expected to soon face charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice, each requiring a separate vote.

On Monday, the federal police recommended charging Temer with obstruction of justice - the first step towards a new round of charges.</s>(RIO DE JANEIRO) — Brazil's attorney general formally accused President Michel Temer of corruption on Monday, making him the first sitting president in Latin America's largest nation to face criminal charges.

Attorney General Rodrigo Janot's accusation is the latest salvo in an intensifying showdown between Temer and justice officials who are building a corruption case that reaches to the highest levels.

The case now goes to the lower Chamber of Deputies in Congress, which must decide whether it has merit. If two-thirds of the legislature decides that it does, then the president will be suspended for up to 180 days while a trial is conducted. House Speaker Rodrigo Maia, an ally of Temer, would be president in the interim.

In his decision, Janot said that Temer at some point between March and April of this year took a bribe of around $150,000 offered by Joesly Batista, former chairman of meat-packing giant JBS.

Janot opened an investigation last month into Temer for corruption, obstruction of justice and being part of a criminal organization. A recording emerged that apparently captured Temer, in a late-night conversation with Batista earlier this year, endorsing hush money to former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a former Temer ally who is serving a 15-year sentence for corruption. Batista reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Temer has denied wrongdoing and said he refuses to resign despite numerous calls for him to do so and plunging popularity. The office of the presidency said it would not have comment Monday night.

Janot's decision to put forward only the corruption allegation may be a strategy to force the lower Chamber of Deputies to first deal with it before having to consider the other allegations.

Allies of Temer have been torn between whether to continue supporting the beleaguered leader or bail on him because of fears that association could be toxic during elections next year.

Janot's 64-page decision was a blistering assessment of Temer and his actions as Brazil's top leader. Janot said bribes to Temer could have reached about $12 million over nine months, and that in general Temer showed a total disregard for the office.

"The circumstances of this meeting (with Batista) - at night and without any register in the official schedule of the president of the Republic - reveal the intent of not leaving traces of the criminal actions already taken," wrote Janot.

Earlier Monday, Temer sought to show his government conducting business as usual, defiantly saying he wasn't going anywhere in his first comments since returning from a trip to Russia and Norway last week that was filled with gaffes and mounting bad news.

"Nothing will destroy us. Not me and not our ministers," he said during the ceremonial signing of a bill in the capital of Brasilia.

Despite the optimism, Temer is facing risks to his mandate on several fronts, from tanking popularity to numerous calls, including from heavyweight politicians, for him to step down.

His trip last week to Russia and Norway ended up underscoring the president's problems and Brazil's diminished stature overseas thanks to a steady stream of corruption scandals the last three years.

Few people showed up at the reception at Brazil's embassy in Moscow, no top Norwegian officials welcomed Temer at Oslo's airport and the country's prime minister, Erna Solberg, gave Temer a public lecture about the colossal "Car Wash" investigation that has upended Brazilian politics and could even jail Temer and several of his Cabinet ministers.

Launched in March 2014, the investigation into billions of dollars in inflated construction contracts and kickbacks to politicians has landed dozens of the country's elite in jail and threatens many more.

"We are very concerned about the 'Car Wash' probe," said Solberg, adding that it was important for Brazil to "clean up" corruption.

To top it off, during Temer's visit, Norway announced a 50 percent cut in funds it pays into Brazil's Amazon rainforest fund because of increased deforestation. The increased deforestation began before Temer took power last year, but environmentalists argue his policies are aggravating the situation.

"It was a trip to distract people from the problems in politics," said Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. "It ended up being a disaster."

Temer, who took over in May of last year after President Dilma Rousseff was impeached and later removed from office, now also has the dubious distinction of having the lowest approval rating of a president since 1989.

The Datafolha polling institute showed over the weekend that just 7 percent of those questioned approved of Temer's administration, the worst since the country was embroiled in a crisis of hyper-inflation on the watch of President Jose Sarney.

Even stalwart allies have begun to bail on Temer.

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who initially supported Temer and is a key leader of the junior coalition party, said in an article published by daily Folha de S.Paulo on Monday that the president could end the crisis by ushering in new elections sooner than the end of his mandate, which goes through 2018.

"I plead with the president to meditate over the opportunity of such a gesture of greatness," said Cardoso.</s>In a fresh blow to the political stability in Brazil, which is going through its worst financial crisis, President Michel Temer has been charged over an alleged multi-million bribery scandal by the country's chief prosecutor.

Temer was elected to the office about a year ago to replace former president Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached after being indicted in the country's biggest graft scam centring around the Petrobras oil company.

On Monday (26 June), top federal prosecutor Rodrigo Janot charged the president for receiving a total of 38m Brazilian reais (£9m, $11.5m) as bribe from meatpacking company JBS SA. He allegedly took the bribes for resolving tax matters, freeing up loans from state-run banks and other matters.

Janot, while submitting the documents to the Supreme Court, accused Temer of fooling the citizens by accepting the bribes.

Temer's office and his attorney, Antonio Mariz, reportedly declined to comment on the charges. The president, however, has maintained that he is innocent, Reuters reported.

Brazil's federal police released a separate document on Monday containing a conversation between Temer and Joesley Batista, one of the brothers who control JBS. The audio recording from March reportedly showed the president discussing bribing a potential witness.

In another part of the recording, Temer is heard telling Batista that it was mainly because of his influence that he appointed Henrique Meirelles as finance minister in his cabinet.

Apart from Temer, one-third of his cabinet and four former presidents in the country have already been indicted or charged in different graft cases. Lawmakers from other parties are also accused of involvement, with over 90 high-profile people already convicted in the past few years.

Temer's popularity in the country has been on the decline since graft allegations began surfacing against him soon after he took over the president's office in August 2016.

Meanwhile, in accordance with Brazilian law, the lower house of Congress will now vote on whether to allow the Supreme Court to try Temer in the graft case.

His supporters from the coalition government are confident they have the two-third majority required in the parliament to block a trial. However, if voting is conducted several times as the president is expected to soon face charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice that require separate voting, support may wane out, they warned.</s>Brazil's top federal prosecutor charged President Michel Temer on Monday with accepting bribes, the first of what is expected to be a series of graft allegations against the deeply unpopular leader in the coming weeks.

BRASILIA: Brazil's top federal prosecutor charged President Michel Temer on Monday with accepting bribes, the first of what is expected to be a series of graft allegations against the deeply unpopular leader in the coming weeks.

Prosecutor Rodrigo Janot delivered the charge to the Supreme Court and, under Brazilian law, the lower house of Congress must now vote on whether to allow the tribunal to try a sitting president.

Lawmakers within Temer's coalition are confident they have the votes to block the two-third majority required to proceed with a trial.</s>A Brazilian Supreme Court justice sent a corruption charge against President Michel Temer to Congress on Wednesday, advancing the process under which the center-right leader could be removed from office to face trial for graft.

The justice, Edson Fachin, rejected an argument made by Brazil’s top federal prosecutor that the Supreme Court should hear preliminary arguments on the charge and its merits for 15 days, before deciding whether to send it to the lower house of Congress.

Under Brazilian law, it is now up to the House of Deputies to decide whether to allow the Supreme Court to try Temer, who replaced impeached leftist President Dilma Rousseff last year. Two-thirds of the lower house must vote against Temer for his trial to occur.

The president was charged this week with arranging to receive 38 million reais ($11.55-million) in bribes from executives at JBS SA, the world’s largest meat processor.

Temer branded the charge a “fiction” in a nationally televised address on Tuesday, even as he acknowledged that it could hurt the economy and hamper his government’s plans for far-reaching reforms to help lift Latin America’s biggest country out of a historic recession.

The Brazilian leader has repeatedly said he is innocent of any wrongdoing and has rejected calls from the opposition to resign.. He is caught up in a three-year anti-graft push by investigators that has revealed stunning levels of corruption in Latin America’s largest country.

The schemes involve businesses paying billions of dollars in bribes to politicians and executives at state-run companies in return for winning contracts and various political favors.

Temer, one-third of his cabinet, four past presidents and dozens of lawmakers are either on trial, facing charges or under investigation for corruption. Over 90 people have been found guilty so far.

More corruption charges are expected to be made against Temer by Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot in the coming weeks. Each of those charges will require a vote by the full lower house on whether or not the president should face trial.

A vote on the first charge against Temer is expected to take place in three to four weeks.

If less than two-thirds of the house were to vote against the charge, it would be shelved. If two-thirds approved it, it would then go back to the Supreme Court, to decide whether it will take up the case.

Temer would immediately be suspended from office for 180 days if the court accepts the case, during which time House Speaker Rodrigo Maia would take the presidency.

Were Temer to be found guilty, Congress would appoint a caretaker president to serve out his term, which ends on Jan. 1, 2019.
Brazilian President Michel Temer is charged with corruption by Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot. The case will now go to the Supreme Federal Court.