1. Eduardo Cunha was President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil from February 2015 until 5 May 2016, when he was removed from the position by the Supreme Court.
20 Facts About Eduardo Cunha
1. 2.
Eduardo Cunha was indicted in the scandal known as Operation Car Wash involving the state-owned oil company Petrobras and other corporations.
3.
Eduardo Cunha resigned from his position later, on 7 July 2016, after a disciplinary process in Congress that had lasted nine months, making it the longest in Brazilian Congressional history.
4.
On 19 October 2016, Eduardo Cunha was arrested by the Brazilian Federal Police, accused of hiding approximately US$40 million worth of bribes in secret bank accounts and on trying to tamper with investigations against him.
5.
Eduardo Cunha majored in economics at the Universidade Candido Mendes, and served as an economist at Xerox of Brazil, between 1980 and 1982.
6.
Eduardo Cunha seeks to ban abortion, increase marijuana penalties, and further restrict homosexual activity.
7.
Eduardo Cunha holds the reputation of being a "picareta" politician in Brazil.
8.
However, Eduardo Cunha was in office for just over six months, when he was forced to resign due to allegations of irregularities in no-bid contracts and favoring shell companies.
9.
Eduardo Cunha was then elected with 101,495 votes in the follow-up campaign.
10.
Eduardo Cunha joined the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies on 1 February 2003, representing Rio de Janeiro.
11.
Eduardo Cunha was elected in the 2006 elections to the House with 130,773 votes.
12.
Eduardo Cunha was re-elected in 2010 through the PMDB with 150,616 votes.
13.
In 2013, Eduardo Cunha was elected leader of the PMDB in the House.
14.
House aides and lobbyists with access to PMDB parliamentarians reported that Eduardo Cunha recorded on an agenda a list of companies - mainly linked to energy, telecommunications and construction - who benefited from parliamentary action.
15.
Eduardo Cunha was indicted in Operation Car Wash, the scandal involving state-owned oil company Petrobras.
16.
Eduardo Cunha was suspended as speaker of the lower house by Brazil's supreme court on 5 May 2016, because of allegations he had attempted to intimidate members of congress, and obstructed the ongoing Car Wash investigation into alleged bribe-taking.
17.
Once removed from office Eduardo Cunha was no longer immune to criminal prosecution.
18.
Eduardo Cunha was arrested on 19 October 2016 in Brasilia and sent to the Complexo Medico Penal de Pinhais, a prison in the Curitiba metropolitan area, to await trial.
19.
Eduardo Cunha had previously faced charges of living rent-free in an apartment owned by a money-dealer, embezzlement and laundering money through his megachurch.
20.
Eduardo Cunha had previously been accused by Marcio Faria da Silva, a former vice president of Odebrecht, in testimony he proffered for a plea bargain in his own criminal case, of negotiating a $40 million US campaign donation to the PMDB.