AFP/Brasilia

Police yesterday raided the homes of the speaker of Brazil’s Congress, who faces allegations of corruption even as he spearheads an impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff.
Agents searched Eduardo Cunha’s homes in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro in the early morning hours, witnesses said.
Other politicians were also targeted in morning raids, ordered by the Supreme Court, with police seizing cell phones and computers.
A total of 53 search warrants were being executed, police said.
Brazilian media reported that police also searched the lower chamber of Congress itself, the homes of two lawmakers and those of two ministers, all of whom come from Cunha’s centrist party, known as the PMDB. It is the key partner in Rousseff’s governing coalition.
Cunha, 57, stands accused of taking at least $5mn in bribes as part of a massive embezzlement scandal at state oil company Petrobras, hiding money in Swiss accounts and lying to fellow lawmakers about those accounts.
Later yesterday, Cunha, an influential rightwing politician and deal-maker, got more bad news: a congressional ethics panel voted 11-9 to open a corruption probe against him for the alleged lying about the bank accounts. This step could lead to his dismissal as speaker and eventually cost him his seat in the chamber.
Until now the vote had been delayed repeatedly as Cunha manoeuvred to block it.
Prosecutors suspect the money in Cunha’s Swiss accounts came from the Petrobras kickbacks and are investigating him for corruption. He denies any wrong-doing.
Rousseff, meanwhile, is also fighting for her political life. She stands accused of illegal budgeting manoeuvres that she says were long accepted practices by previous governments.
A one-time political prisoner during the 1964-85 military regime, Rousseff derides the attempt to bring her down as a “coup.”
Her approval rating has dropped to 10% amid widespread disgust in a country mired in recession and other problems like shoddy public services and rampant crime as it prepares to host the summer Olympics next year.
While spearheading the impeachment process against Rousseff, Cunha is accused of trying to delay the ethics probe.
Cunha gave the initial go-ahead last week for an impeachment process against the president.
But the Supreme Court suspended for one week the commission that will recommend whether Congress should impeach her, citing irregularities.
Of the 65 lawmakers elected in controversial circumstances to the panel, about 30% face criminal probes, according to a detailed count by specialist website, Congresso em FoCo
The court is to rule today on whether to let the commission resume deliberations.
Rousseff is so unpopular she has little political support to mount a defence.
The impeachment push in part reflects the country’s anger at multiple crises, including the Petrobras scandal, which has rocked Brazil to its core.
In that case, contractors working with the oil giant allegedly paid bribes to politically connected Petrobras executives in order to land contracts, and the money was then allegedly divvied up with politicians.