Brazil President accused of soliciting millions in illegal donations

Brazil’s President, Michel Temer, is facing allegations that he solicited €2.74 million in illegal campaign donations in 2014.

A judge on Brazil’s highest electoral court said that the accusations – which Temer denies – could form part of an ongoing investigation into whether bribe money helped fund the 2014 campaign that saw Dilma Rousseff re-elected President with Temer as her running mate. That could even lead to him losing his mandate. 

Temer took over as President earlier this year after Rousseff was ousted in a controversial impeachment process she and her leftist Workers’ Party denounced as an institutional “coup d’etat”. Corruption allegations have dogged his government ever since.

In a poll published Sunday but carried out before the new accusations surfaced, 63% of Brazilians said they wanted Temer to resign for new elections, the Guardian reported.

With Brazil’s economy mired in deep recession and stubbornly refusing to improve as Temer promised, some even questioned whether he will be able to survive until the end of his mandate in 2018.