Brasilia, October 7 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The government of Switzerland confirmed on Tuesday that it has frozen the bank accounts and assets of Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of Brazilian lower house of congress, for suspected money laundering that could link him to the corruption scandal surrounding the state-owned oil giant Petrobras. 

The information revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice exposes that Cunha’s committed perjury during his appearance before the Parliamentary Investigation Commission of Petrobras when he said he did not have bank accounts in Switzerland.

On September 30th, the Public Prosecutor of Switzerland delivered data concerning to the investigation against Cunha to the Attorney General of Brazil showing officials from the European nation had discovered several clandestine bank accounts registered in his name and in the names of several of his relatives. 

According to Brazilian law, he could be removed from his congressional post because he violated the ethics code by omitting information about his personal assets.

Cunha is also the leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, known as the PMDB, which broke alliance with President Dilma Rousseff’s Worker’s Party government in order to support the conservative opposition in a move to gain more personal political power.
       
Several other conservative politicians, including the former Petrobras international chief Nestor Cervero, have been sentenced to over 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering charges related to bribes allegedly paid to Cunha.

The corruption cases affecting Petrobras came to light in March 2014, after the Federal Police revealed embezzlement and bribes accepted by oil authorities for about $400 million. The Federal Supreme Court (TSF) now has to decide whether to continue the legal process against Cunha.