Brazilian police to probe President Dilma Rousseff's re-election campaign

Baku. 17 October. REPORT.AZ/ Brazilian federal police have opened a preliminary investigation into alleged irregularities in President Dilma Rousseff's re-election campaign last year.

Report informs referring to foreign media, the probe was opened on October 7, following a decision by Justice Gilmar Mendes of the Superior Electoral Court to look into allegations of wrongdoing by the Rousseff campaign. Justice Mendes, also a justice at Brazil's top court, recently asked prosecutors to investigate the campaign.

Efforts to contact staff who worked in the campaign for comment were unsuccessful. Ms Rousseff's office declined to comment on the probe.

The electoral court, known as TSE, voted five to two on the decision last week. An investigation aims to find out whether Ms Rousseff and her running mate, Vice President Michel Temer, abused their power while in office to run the campaign and whether illegal money was used as funding.

The opening of the police probe adds fuel to opposition attempts in Congress to impeach Ms Rousseff. Those efforts lost traction earlier in the week after Ms Rousseff and Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha forged an uneasy truce as both face the risk of being ousted from office.