Renan Calheiros Politician

José Renan Vasconcelos Calheiros (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁeˈnɐ̃ kaˈʎejɾus]; born in Murici, Alagoas, on September 16, 1955) is a Brazilian politician and current President of the Senate of Brazil, for the fourth time. He represents the state of Alagoas in the senate for the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.On May 25, 2007, Veja magazine accused Calheiros of accepting funds from a lobbyist to pay for the child support of a daughter from a previous extramarital affair with journalist Monica Veloso. In trying to justify the origin of the funds, subsequent investigations on Calheiros' business dealings led to other revelations about income tax fraud and the use of a proxy to buy a stake in a radio station. Calheiros was subject to a disciplinary inquiry by the senate's ethics committee on four different counts. On September 12, 2007, the senate voted by secret ballot against impeaching Calheiros on the lobby funds accusation. He is still facing three separate inquiries on other charges. After the vote, the public outrage which followed forced congress to eliminate secret ballot votes for ethics violation, meaning Calheiros' three other inquiries, if approved by the ethics committee, will be subject to an open ballot vote in the senate floor.On October 11, 2007, Calheiros stepped down as president of the senate, taking a 45-day leave of absence from the position. The ethics inquiries will continue to progress through the senate committees.Calheiros worked for both the Fernando Collor de Mello and Fernando Henrique Cardoso governments.On February 1, 2013, he was again elected president of the Brazilian Senate. Due to the accusations mentioned above, many Brazilians became upset about his election and some started an online petition demanding Renan's impeachment. As of February 2013, it had been signed by more than 1,6 million Brazilians.