Renan Calheiros
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José Renan Vasconcelos Calheiros (; born 16 September 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former President of the Federal Senate of Brazil. He has represented the state of
Alagoas Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...
in the senate as a member of the
Brazilian Democratic Movement The Brazilian Democratic Movement (, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, with the most numbers of senators, ...
. since 1 February 1995. Renan's presidency of the Brazilian Senate, a term that started 1 February 2013, was revoked on 5 December 2016 by a minister of the Brazilian Supreme Court,
Marco Aurélio Mello Marco Aurélio Mendes de Farias Mello (born 12 July 1946, Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian former justice of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, appointed to the position by his cousin, former President of Brazil Fernando Collor de Mello. In a co ...
, who said that a person under investigation could not be in the line of succession for the presidency. However the Supreme Court decided 7 December 2016 that Renan could remain senate president, without being in the succession.


Career

On 25 May 2007, ''Veja'' magazine accused Calheiros of accepting funds from a construction industry
lobbyist Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...
, to pay child support for a child from a previous extramarital affair with broadcast journalist Mônica Veloso. In trying to justify the origin of the funds, subsequent investigations into Calheiros' business dealings led to other revelations of income tax fraud and the use of a proxy to buy a stake in a radio station. Calheiros was subject to a disciplinary inquiry by the senate's ethics committee on four different counts. On 12 September 2007, the senate voted by
secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...
against impeaching Calheiros on the lobbyist funds accusation. He still faces three separate inquiries on other charges. After the vote public outrage forced congress to eliminate secret ballot voting for ethics violations, meaning Calheiros' three other inquiries, if approved by the ethics committee, will be subject to an open ballot vote in the senate floor. On 11 October 2007, Calheiros stepped down as president of the senate, taking a 45-day leave of absence from the position. The ethics inquiries continued to progress through the senate committees. Calheiros worked for both the
Fernando Collor de Mello Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...
and
Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...
governments. On 1 February 2013, he was again elected president of the Brazilian Senate. Due to the accusations mentioned above, many Brazilians became upset about his election and some started an online petition demanding Renan's impeachment. As of February 2013, it had been signed by more than 1.6 million Brazilians. The
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
board (
João Alberto João Alberto Lins de Barros was a Brazilian politician in the early 20th century. He was appointed by Getúlio Vargas provisional governor in place of the elected governor of São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Sa ...
, Sérgio Petecão, Zezé Perrella, Romero Jucá, Gladson Cameli, Vicentinho Alves) together with Renan Calheiros refused to obey an order from the
Supreme Federal Court The Federal Supreme Court (, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the country's Constitutional Court. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for constitutional issues and its rulings ...
(Federal Supreme Court) to remove Calheiros from the presidency because he became defendant of embezzlement (peculation in the penal code). The Senate maneuvered so that the justice official could not handle the judicial notice and Calheiros refused to sign it. The biggest implicated company,
Odebrecht Odebrecht S.A. (), officially known as Novonor, is a Brazilian conglomerate, headquartered in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, consisting of diversified businesses in the fields of engineering, construction, chemicals and petrochemicals. The company w ...
kept an entire department to coordinate the payment of bribes to politicians. In the Car Wash Operation, officers seized several electronic spreadsheets linking the payments to nicknames. Every corrupt politician received a nickname based on physical characteristics, public trajectory, personal infos, owned cars/boats, origin place or generic preferences. Renan Calheiro's nickname was 'Athlete' and 'Justice', referring to his morning routine of jogging and his position as president of Senate's Commission of Constitution and Justice.


Notes


References


External links


Official website

http://www.protestosbrasil.org/Videos/Peticao-de-saida-de-Renan-Calheiros-e-entregue-forarenan-20
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Calheiros, Renan 1955 births Brazilian Democratic Movement politicians Living people Presidents of the Federal Senate (Brazil) Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Alagoas Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alagoas Brazilian politicians convicted of crimes People from Murici