Leaked tape forces Brazilian minister out

Planning minister Romero Juca was caught on tape allegedly conspiring to obstruct the country's biggest-ever corruption investigation.

In the tapes, leaked by newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, he appears to talk of stopping the probe at oil giant Petrobras by impeaching suspended president Dilma Rousseff.

Juca is one of the main architects of the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff and is also the vice-president of Temer's PMDB party. Three other PMDB ministers in the new government, which took over earlier this month, are also under investigation in the Petrobras case.

In a news conference, Juca did not deny the authenticity of the recording but said his quotes had been misinterpreted and taken out of context.

“It is public knowledge that I am in favour of the impeachment and that I was referring to the Brazilian economy, not the Petrobras investigation,”he said.

Rousseff said the tapes prove that the impeachment process is a "political coup" designed to protect senior figures implicated in the Petrobras scandal.

Rousseff has been accused of massaging budget figures ahead of her re-election in 2014, and is due to be tried in the senate in the coming months.

In the transcript of the audio leaked on Monday, Juca appears to be saying the impeachment was necessary to "staunch the bleeding" and create a "political pact" needed to "stop everything and limit things."

Juca was talking to the director of the state transportation company Transpetro, Sergio Machado. Both men are under investigation in the Petrobras scandal.

Dozens of top-ranking politicians and business executives have been charged or already convicted for participation in the Petrobras bribery and embezzlement scheme.

"There is nothing wrong in being investigated - there is something wrong in being charged," Juca said.

"I have never done anything to complicate the investigation."

BBC reporters in Brazil say the recording reinforces scepticism in the country about President Temer's assurances that he would not interfere with the investigations.