RIO DE JANEIRO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer highlighted the performance of his administration in a video distributed through social networks on Friday, citing economic advances in the country.
In the video, Temer emphasized the positive GDP results registered in the first quarter of the year, the first growth registered in two years, while noting the inflation rate will keep falling.
The video is apparently a move by Temer to amend his image damaged during the past week.
Brazil's Chief Prosecution Office on Monday formally denounced Temer for corruption, making him the first Brazilian president in history to be prosecuted for a common crime while in office.
Temer's predecessor Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached last year, was accused of making fiscal maneuvers to balance the federal budget. The accusations were controversial and there was no consensus on whether the maneuvers were irregularities.
The accusation against Temer is much clearer in a legal perspective: taking bribes from a private company. He was caught on tape on a compromising conversation with Joesley Batista, head of meatpacking group JBS, one of Brazil's largest private companies.
On Monday night, Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot filed the charges, accusing Temer of having been bribed by executives from JBS in exchange for favorable decisions by the government
Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin decided on Wednesday to send the charges against Temer straight to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the country's parliament, for a vote.
The Chamber of Deputies on Thursday began analyzing the charges against Temer.
A full Chamber vote, with a two-third majority, or 342 out of 513 votes, will be needed to open a formal case against Temer.
If Temer is formally charged, he will have to step down from office.
