RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Senate voted on Tuesday to reverse a Supreme Court decision which determined the suspension of Senator Aecio Neves' mandate on corruption accusation.
By 44 votes against 25, senators voted to annul the Supreme Court's ruling and gave Neves his Senate mandate back.
Neves, being investigated for corruption, was caught on tape openly discussing bribes of 2 million Brazilian reals (about 632,000 U.S. dollars) with businessman Joesley Batista, one of the owners of meatpacking company JBS. Neves' cousin was afterwards filmed receiving a large sum of money in a briefcase.
In the recording, Neves mentioned that he needed to send someone trustworthy to get the money, and even if the accomplice tried to sell him, he could always have the man killed.
In late September, the Supreme Court, in an attempt to curb Neves' influence in the Senate, ordered his suspension and ruled that the senator was to have no contact with other defendants in the process and was under house arrest in the evenings and weekends.
The Senate protested, alleging interference of the judiciary in the legislative power. In response, the Supreme Court gathered in a full session and decided that they could not freely suspend congressmen without congressional approval, which led to the Senate's decision to vote on Tuesday.
Local media reported that Brazilian President Michel Temer was personally invested in the case, and worked to ensure that the suspension would be overruled.
The support of Neves and his Brazilian Social Democracy Party is essential for Temer who manages to win key votings in the upcoming weeks, including the voting to decide whether to submit the president to trial for criminal associations and obstruction of justice.
