Brazil's Supreme Court removes indicted head of Senate

President of Brazil Senate Renan Calheiros. (Photo: AFP)

Sao Paulo: Brazil's Supreme Court ruled on Monday for the removal of Renan Calheiros as president of the Senate, after the top court indicted him last week on charges of embezzlement, a court spokesman said.

Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello took up an injunction against Calheiros based on a majority ruling by the court last month that no person indicted for a crime could be in the presidential line of succession.

The head of the Senate is the second in line after the speaker of the lower house, as Brazil does not have a vice president at the moment.

Calheiros can appeal to the full court, but in the meantime he has to immediately step down as Senate leader and hand over the position to the vice-president of the upper chamber, Senator Jorge Vianna of the leftist Workers Party, the spokesman said.

The change of leadership in the Senate comes at a crucial moment for President Michel Temer's efforts to pass austerity measures through Congress to restore fiscal discipline to Brazil's overdrawn government accounts.

The government's leader in Congress, Romero Juca, said the removal of Calheiros would not alter plans for a Dec. 13 vote on a 20-year cap on federal spending, the key measure proposed by Temer to bring a widening budget deficit under control.