Brazilian President Michel Temer, the son of Lebanese immigrants, has been charged with corruption, becoming the country's first-ever sitting head of state to face criminal charges.
Brazil's chief prosecutor accuses Temer of accepting bribes from a giant company implicated in a corruption scandal. Temer denies all allegations.
If >found guilty, Temer would face $3 million in fines and two to 12 years in prison.
>BBC reports that Temer is accused of receiving money from the head of JBS, a meat-processing company, in exchange for helping influence the decisions of state bodies.
This comes after an audio recording in which Temer appears to be discussing bribes with the chairman of JBS was discovered.
His former special assistant was also filmed accepting a suitcase of money from a JBS executive.
Brazil's top prosecutor claims that Temer took "millions of dollars" in bribes and "fooled Brazilian citizens," according to The Guardian.
Additionally, Temer is under investigation for obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy. He is expected to face additional charges in the coming weeks.
The president denies any wrongdoing and says he will not resign, referring to the accusations as "fiction" and accusing Attorney General Janot of "revenge, destruction and vengeance".
"I have been denounced for passive corruption without having received anything of value. Where is the concrete proof that I received something of value?” he said in a statement.
Janot has presented the indictment to the Supreme Court, which is set to decide if the case should be sent to the lower house of Congress.
The lower house would then vote on whether or not to allow a criminal trial to take place. According to The Wall Street Journal, the votes of two-thirds of the 513 members, or 342 votes, are required for the trial to go through.
Political analyst Thiago de Aragão says that Temer has more than 200 votes in his favor.
If the lower house approves of the trial, Temer would be prosecuted before the Supreme Court and would have to step down for up to 180 days.
If convicted, Temer would be removed from office and face jail time. He would also lose the right to run for office for at least eight years.
Temer has faced criticism ever since he >took office last May, after the ousting of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
Temer, along with many other Brazilian politicians, was already under investigation for corruption when he took over as president. Opposition parties have been calling for his >impeachment.
At just 7%, Temer has the >lowest approval rate for a Brazilian president since 1989.
Temer was born in Brazil to parents who had emigrated from the village of Btaaboura in Lebanon.
He holds a doctorate from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and formerly served as state prosecutor and as state secretary for public security. Since 1987, he served six consecutive terms in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies.
He went on to become the chairman of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, which allied with Rousseff's Workers' Party in 2007. This eventually led to Temer's election as Rousseff's vice-president when she took office in 2011.