{"id":78594,"date":"2020-06-12T11:34:44","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T03:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=78594"},"modified":"2020-06-12T11:47:27","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T03:47:27","slug":"covid-19-brazilian-governor-faces-impeachment-over-embezzled-coronavirus-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=78594","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: Brazilian governor faces impeachment over embezzled coronavirus funds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/turbo.themalaysianinsight.com\/resources\/stories_images\/252914\/wilson_witzel_april_2020_epa__full.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; The Rio de Janeiro state legislature voted to open impeachment proceedings against Governor Wilson Witzel over accusations he embezzled funds for fighting the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With 69 votes in favour and one abstention, legislators in the state \u2013 Brazil\u2019s second-hardest-hit in the pandemic, after Sao Paulo \u2014 passed a motion to open an impeachment commission to investigate the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was one of 14 impeachment motions facing Witzel, a former ally of President Jair Bolsonaro who denies the allegations and accuses the far-right leader of \u201cpolitical persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the commission decides to go ahead with impeachment proceedings, the legislature will hold another vote on whether to suspend Witzel from his job and put him on trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That process, which can last up to 180 days, would conclude with a vote on whether to remove him from office definitively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Witzel, who backed Bolsonaro in the 2018 presidential election, has become one of the president\u2019s most outspoken opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pair have notably clashed over the response to the pandemic. Bolsonaro is a fierce critic of the stay-at-home measures adopted by Witzel and other governors to curb the spread of the virus, arguing they are needlessly wrecking the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police raided the governor\u2019s official residence last month as part of an investigation into the alleged embezzlement of funds to build field hospitals for coronavirus patients, an emergency measure to avoid the collapse of the state health system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Witzel, 52, again denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was elected with the fight against corruption as my pillar, and I will never abandon that flag,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brazil is the latest epicentre in the pandemic, with nearly 40,000 deaths, the third-highest toll in the world after the United States and Britain. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; The Rio de Janeiro state legislature voted to open impeachment proceedings against Governor Wilson Witzel over accusations he embezzled funds for fighting the coronavirus pandemic. With 69 votes in favour and one abstention, legislators in the state \u2013 Brazil\u2019s second-hardest-hit in the pandemic, after Sao Paulo \u2014 passed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":78625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,297],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78594"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}