MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Cunha is suspected of money laundering, particularly of accepting a $1.6 million bribe for helping the Petrobras oil company acquire an oil field in Benin, Globo TV said on Thursday.
"The capacity of the electoral Justice, its purpose is to prosecute crimes that relate directly to violations of the electoral law, which is not exactly the case, " Moro said referring to the corruption allegations against him.
In 2014, it was revealed that businesses paid more than $2 billion in bribes to sign contracts with the Petrobras oil company and obtain projects which later increased in cost. The scandal triggered a large-scale inquiry and public discontent, which were partly responsible for the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff who headed the company in 2003-2010.
Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, enmeshed in an investigation of a fraud scheme run by Petrobras, has already been charged with obstruction of justice, money laundering and corruption in two separate lawsuits.
