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Fernando Collor

SAO PAULO. – Brazil’s Attorney-General filed corruption charges on Thursday against the Speaker of the Lower House of Congress and against a current senator who was impeached while serving as president in the early 1990s.

The Attorney-General’s Office said Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha and Senator Fernando Collor took part in the sprawling corruption scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which ran for over a decade and in which billions in bribes were allegedly paid.

Both Cunha and Collor told the local Press that they have done nothing wrong.

Prosecutors said in a statement that Cunha is accused of accepting $5 million in bribes between 2006 and 2012 in connection with the construction of two Petrobras drilling ships. He’s charged with corruption and with money laundering.

No details in the case against Collor were made public. The Prosecutor’s Office said that was because it is based on accusations from an active informant and revealing details would jeopardise the continuing investigation.

In the early 1990s, Collor became Brazil’s first freely elected president in nearly three decades after a long military dictatorship, but he was removed from office in 1992 over allegations he received millions from a slush fund run by his former campaign treasurer.

Under Brazilian law, charges against federal congressmen and other top government officials can only be filed and judged by the Supreme Court, which is expected to take years to rule on the cases. – AP