José Renan Vasconcelos Calheiros (; born 16 September 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former
President
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of the
Senate of Brazil
The Federal Senate ( pt, Senado Federal) is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. When created under the Imperial Constitution in 1824, it was based on the House of Lords of the British Parliament, but since the Proclamation ...
. 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. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...
in the senate as a member of the
Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, 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, ...
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 Renan's presidency of the Brazilian Senate, a term that started 1 February 2013, was revoked on 5 December 2016 by a minister of the Brazilian Supreme Court,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 con ...
, 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.
![Presidência do Senado (19153407625)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Presid%C3%AAncia_do_Senado_%2819153407625%29.jpg)
On 25 May 2007,
''Veja'' magazine accused Calheiros of accepting funds from a construction industry
lobbyist
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
, 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 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 31 December 2002. 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 board ( João Alberto, Sérgio Petecão, Zezé Perrella, ]Romero Jucá
Romero Jucá Filho (; born 30 November 1954) is a Brazilian politician and economist. He represented Roraima in the Federal Senate for 24 years, from 1995 to 2019. Previously, he was governor of Roraima from 1988 to 1990.Romero Jucá: Índio n ...
, Gladson Cameli, Vicentinho Alves) together with Renan Calheiros refused to obey an order from the Supreme Federal Court (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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Calheiros, Renan
1955 births
Brazilian Democratic Movement politicians
Living people
People from Alagoas
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