Brasilia, November 5 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A group of five young activists associated with the Popular Youth Uprising showered opposition politician and speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, with fake dollars imprinted with the image of the lawmaker in a protest stunt over his alleged role in a corruption scandal in Brazil.

In a statement posted on-line, Popular Youth Uprising said they conducted the stunt to reveal Cunha's alleged involvement in bribery and money laundering. They claimed they were “returning” some of the money allegedly hidden by Cunha in Switzerland.

Cunha is suspected of being involved in a complex corruption scandal involving the state-owned oil company Petrobras. Last month, the government of Switzerland confirmed it had frozen the Cunha’s bank accounts and assets over suspected money laundering.

He is accused of receiving $5 million in kickbacks between 2006 and 2012. Cunha has denied any wrongdoing.

Cunha, once an ally of President Dilma Rousseff, left the governing coalition and has become one of the president's principal political opponents. As speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress, Cunha controls whether and when impeachment proceedings will begin against the sitting head-of-state.
  
However Cunha's position as speaker is under threat. Last month a group of Brazilian political parties submitted a formal request to the Ethics Council of the Chamber of Deputies asking Cunha to be removed from his post.

Nearly 50 lawmakers from eight different parties signed the request asking for Cunha to be removed from his post and submitted 100 pages worth of evidence to support their allegation that Cunha violated the code of ethics for lawmakers.

The Ethics Council began its proceedings on Tuesday and the entire process may take up to 90 days.

Young activists throughout Brazil have been staging actions this week also calling for the removal of Cunha from his post. Four hundred activists staged a protest in front of the lawmaker's house on Monday insisting he step down.