Brazil: Decisive Trial For Rousseff

The impeachment trial of Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff is ongoing on allegations of financial impropriety.

Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff is at the cross-roads in her political career and office as her impeachment trial started on Thursday, August 25, 2016, The Two-Way press organ reported.

Ms Rousseff is accused of spending money without congressional approval and taking out unauthorised loans from state banks to boost the national budget ahead of the 2014 election, when she was re-elected. She is indeed tainted by the scandal, in which her Workers' Party is accused of lining its campaign war chests with some of the country’s missing money.

At the start of the trial, news agency reports said, witnesses from the prosecution and defence appeared in the Senate and faced questioning. The trial will wrap up quickly, reports say and added that, "Rousseff herself is set to testify on Monday, and then after that the Senate will vote. The whole thing will be over by next week."

The Senate last May suspended Dilma Rousseff from power and was replaced by Michel Temer. Senators early on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 in a marathon session that started on Tuesday, voted 59 to 21 in favour of going ahead with the trial against her.  The law states that a two-thirds majority is needed in the final vote following the trial. Supreme Court President Ricardo Lewandowski, BBC said, told senators during the debate that they were about to "exercise one of the most serious tasks under the constitution".