Brazilians concerned with rampant corruption in their political system have reason to rejoice today: the man who many consider the most corrupt politician in Brazil – a title for which there is much competition, and who had been removed from office in May – finally had his mandate ended.

In May, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice determined that Eduardo Cunha, the former President of the Chamber of Deputies, a position equivalent to the Speaker of the House in the U.S., should have his term suspended.

Tonight, in a session that was at times nasty and personal and that lasted through the night, the Chamber voted to end Cunha's mandate. Cunha was most recently caught lying about having offshore (Swiss) bank accounts. (He argued, among other things, that the accounts were his wife's.)

At the end, 450 Congressmembers voted to end his mandate. Only 10 voted in favor of him. 10, a dramatically low number for the man who used to run Brazil's politics. It's a comment on how quickly the tides can turn in Brazil. And it might also signal a new era in Brazil's attempts to fight corruption.

Interestingly, Cunha's few supporters claimed that he was being judged not on the law but on public opinion. That is the same argument supporters of the impeached Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff have made.

In May, the justice explained the decision by citing the numerous and varied corruption proceedings that Cunha is currently caught up in. Some of those proceedings are related to graft charges in the massive Car Wash corruption investigation into Petrobras contacts that has washed over top-tier politicians of all political parties, including former president Luiz Ignacio da Silva. Some of those investigations are related to the good old-fashioned pay-to-play-politics that seem to dominate Brazilian governance.

The justice, Teori Zavascki, noted that Cunha's mandate as leader of the lower house, "is not an empty title authorizing expectations of power that are unlimited, irresponsible and meaningless." He noted that there was evidence that Cunha set up a "network of obstruction" to shield himself from anti-corruption investigations.

"I think this is a great sign," argued Rodrigo Fernandes, a São Paulo venture capitalist. "It's a sign that we are not going to tolerate corruption, no matter the [political] party."

While the arrival of Cunha in the crosshairs of Brazil's anti-corruption crusade is a watershed moment for the country, it is one that was not at all inevitable.

For decades – yes, decades – Eduardo Cunha has escaped prosecution on corruption charges, despite being implicated in case after case. For many Brazilians, he is the symbol of political malevolence, a bad guy who outsmarts the Brazilian public again and again.

Related: He also happens to be one of the most powerful politician in Brazil.

It is Cunha who ran the impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff before he was removed in May, which resulted in her impeachment by the lower house that he governs. During those proceedings he was the target of leftists' ire, as they pointed their fingers at him and called him a "scoundrel" and his proceeding a "coup". He was even called a "gangster" to his face by one Congressman. (Catch the word "gangster" in the beginning of the video below).

A full recap of the most outrageous moments from that proceeding can be found here.

Despite the hate aimed his way by his political enemies during the impeachment proceeding, Cunha found a way to grin as his political supporters approached the microphone that Sunday and voted to impeach the President.

The grin is likely gone tonight. Brazilian social media is currently exploding with reactions to the news that Brazil's most invincible politician is politically dead. Many Brazilians are adjusting the anti-Rousseff chant of "Tchau, querida" (Bye, sweetheart) into the masculine form to create an anti-Cunha mantra: "Tchau, querido." Others are taking liberties with the fact that Cunha's name begins with the letters for a vulgar Brazilian word for a certain body part.

"It would be very hard to find somebody that would be against the removal of Cunha at this point," notes Natalia Ribeiro, a graduate student in political science in Brasília. "Maybe there is, but I doubt someone would argue publicly against it."

Fernandes, like many Brazilians, was in favor of the impeachment of Rousseff. But that doesn't mean he is a Cunha supporter. "The fact that he helped pushed the impeachment forward is not going to give him a free pass, despite what he might have thought."

But, at the same time, Brazilians will have a hard time counting him out. Cunha, an evangelical Christian radio announcer, is Brazil's rubberman, a man who wriggles his way out of any net. Tonight, the net seems to have finally closed.</s>Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, was removed from office Monday night by a landslide vote in the chamber of 450 votes to 10 with nine abstentions.

Lawmakers decided overwhelmingly that Cunha had lied during the investigation into corruption at Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, and had hid millions of dollars in offshore accounts. On top of losing his seat as speaker, Cunha also loses all political privileges for eight years.

Cunha had resigned as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in July, and was already suspended as speaker in May by the Supreme Court, at the request of the attorney general, who accused him of obstructing justice and hiding millions of dollars in bribes in Swiss bank accounts.

The corruption investigation has already brought down some of the country's top political and business leaders.

By being voted out, Cunha loses partial immunity from prosecution offered to members of Congress and high-ranking politicians. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies make up the country's Congress. When announcing his resignation earlier in the summer, Cunha, who has been widely compared to the character Frank Underwood in the TV series "House of Cards," had said: "I will continue to defend my innocence and that I told the truth." In July, the congressional ethics committee voted to strip him of his congressional seat. Although resigning as speaker, he still hung on to the seat until Monday's denouement. Cunha had launched his bid to impeach Rousseff, the country's first female leader, in December 2015, accusing the then-leader of hiding a budgetary deficit to win re-election in 2014. Her opponents also blamed her for the worst recession in decades. At the end of August, Brazil's Senate voted 61-20 in favor of removing her from office.</s>RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s lower house of Congress voted overwhelmingly late Monday to strip the legislative seat of its former speaker amid accusations of corruption and obstruction of justice.

The Chamber of Deputies voted 450 to 10 to remove Eduardo Cunha after hours of debate. Nine legislators abstained.

As speaker, Eduardo Cunha was the main driver behind the impeachment process that led to the Senate trying left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff and removing her from office last month. He has been a key ally of new President Michel Temer, who had been Rousseff’s vice president.

Cunha has been accused by Brazilian prosecutors of receiving millions of dollars in bribes linked to the sprawling corruption scandal at state-run oil giant Petrobras. But the issue before the Chamber of Deputies was only whether he lied about having secret banking accounts in Switzerland.

Cunha, who said the accounts belonged to a trust, was pressured into resigning as speaker after the accounts came to light, but he had refused to give up his post as a lawmaker.

With the loss of his congressional seat, Cunha also loses his partial immunity from prosecution. In Brazil, only the country’s top court can decide to charge and try federal lawmakers.

Cunha, who had been in his fourth term as a lawmaker, told his colleagues during the debate that the Rousseff impeachment effort was the reason for the drive to remove him.

“This is all because I opened the impeachment proceedings. The (governing) Worker’s Party wants a trophy to say this was a coup,” Cunha said. “This criminal of a government of yours is now gone thanks to me.”</s>Bawtry’s Crown Hotel has become the latest patron of Doncaster Chamber after the two organisations worked on a successful campaign to promote the town.

Craig Dowie, managing director of the four star hotel, has been working with the chamber on a ‘place marketing’ campaign to raise Doncaster’s profile as the place to live, work and visit.

As a result, chamber bosses saw it as an optimum time for the two organisations to work more closely together and the hotel became the latest chamber patron.

Mr Dowie said: “Being a patron will allow us to effectively network with the other Doncaster Chamber patrons, and also host and be involved with key chamber events.

“I’m heading up the new place marketing board for Doncaster, and with this in mind, it seemed a great time to look at patronage with Doncaster Chamber where we will work alongside each other and other members to raise the profile and growth of business in Doncaster.

“Doncaster is buzzing with transformational projects including the iport, the Great Yorkshire Way, the HS2 rail college, the new Doncaster Sheffield Airport routes and the forthcoming PGA golf course.”

He added: “It’s a great time to do business and encourage inward investment on a regional, national and international stage.

“The Crown already has key strategic partnerships with other chamber members, including Doncaster Racecourse, Doncaster Rovers Football Club and the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and the patronage will help us to continue to build our brand and venue as one of the best in Yorkshire.”

Dan Fell, chief executive officer of Doncaster Chamber, welcomed them to the team.

He added: “We are delighted to welcome the Crown Hotel as patron members – they are great advocates for what a great place Doncaster is to do business and we will continue to work alongside the team and other chamber members to keep growing the economy and ensure that Doncaster is recognised for its attractive investment opportunities.”

In 2013 the hotel won two Doncaster Business Awards for Marketing Strategy of the Year and Business of the Year under £3m turnover.

The business is also entering this year’s awards and the winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony at Doncaster Racecourse on Thursday, December 8.

The Origin Broadband-sponsored event counts the Doncaster Free Press as an official media partner and it will be hosted by ITV’s Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins.

For tickets and further information about attending visit www.doncaster-chamber.co.uk
Eduardo Cunha, former President of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies loses his position as a Deputy following a vote of the Chamber as a result of a series of corruption scandals.