BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Eduardo Cunha, the former head of Brazil’s lower house of Congress who led the impeachment drive against former President Dilma Rousseff, was arrested yesterday on corruption charges.
Cunha, a one-time leader of the Evangelical Christian caucus in the House of Deputies, was arrested on charges he received millions in bribes from a purchase of an oil field in Benin by state-run oil company Petrobras.
Cunha’s detention is the latest high-profile action in the sprawling investigation into a massive graft scheme at Petrobras. Prosecutors say Brazil’s biggest construction and engineering firms paid billions in bribes to executives at the oil firm and politicians in return for bloated contracts.
