(Eraldo Peres/Associated Press)RIO DE JANEIRO — The once powerful speaker of Congress’ lower house is the latest top politician to fall before the mammoth corruption scandals that have caused widespread anger among Brazilians. Swiss prosecutors say Cunha held secret bank accounts at Julius Baer bank, with media reports putting their value in December at 2.4 million Swiss francs ($2.5 million). Prosecutors say a total of more than $2 billion was paid in bribes by companies to obtain inflated contracts from the energy company. If he had remained speaker, Cunha would have been next in line for the presidency if anything happened to Temer. Cunha’s power began to erode in the middle of last year after a plea bargain deal led to testimony linking him to multimillion-dollar Swiss bank accounts.

Source: Washington Post September 13, 2016 02:01 UTC