Jacob Zuma stood down as South African president after nine years in power marked by corruption scandals and court action. Here are some other world leaders forced out of office facing legal charges.
Latin America
– BRAZIL: President Fernando Color de Mello, accused of corruption, steps down in December 1992 at the opening of an impeachment hearing.
The case is dropped in 1994. As a senator, he is again put on trial in 2017 over the wide-reaching graft scandal involving oil giant Petrobras.
In 2016, Dilma Rousseff is forced out as president in an impeachment trial launched by her rivals in the Senate. She denies accusations of financial wrongdoing in office and has not been tried in court.
– ECUADOR: Vice president Jorge Glas is sentenced to six years in jail in December 2017 for receiving kickbacks from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. He is removed from office the following month.
– GUATEMALA: President Otto Perez, accused of being part of a ring that took bribes over taxes, is stripped of immunity in September 2015. Facing impeachment, he stands down two days later.
The courts order in October 2017 that he should stand trial for racketeering, illicit enrichment and fraud.
– PERU: President Alberto Fujimori is impeached in November 2000 by Congress “for permanent moral incapacity”. He leaves the country and resigns by fax.
Later extradited back to Peru, he is sentenced to 25 years in prison for having ordered the massacre of civilians and for corruption. He is granted a controversial presidential pardon in December 2017.
– VENEZUELA: President Carlos Andres Perez, accused of financial fraud, is suspended from office in 1993 after a unanimous vote in the Senate. He is sentenced in 1996 to two years and four months in prison.
Europe
– CROATIA: Prime minister Ivo Sanader resigns in July 2009 amid suspicions of embezzlement. He is jailed from July to December 2011.
In April 2017 he is again sentenced to four and a half years in jail for taking bribes while in power. He is also indicted in three other graft cases involving millions of euros.
– GERMANY: Facing charges of influence-peddling, federal president Christian Wulff resigns in February 2012 after his immunity is lifted. He is later cleared.
– ROMANIA: Prime minister Victor Ponta is put on trial in July 2015 for fraud, tax evasion and money laundering dating back to before he took office. He hangs on to power but resigns in November 2015 after protests following a deadly fire in the capital.
Israel
President Ezer Weizman is forced to stand down to avoid impeachment in July 2000 following a tax evasion and corruption scandal.
In June 2007 president Moshe Katzav quits following a sex scandal. He is convicted and put behind bars in 2011.
The following year, prime minister Ehud Olmert resigns after police recommend he be indicted for graft. He remains in office until March 2009 but is jailed. Olmert is freed in July 2017 after being granted parole from a 27-month sentence.
Police on February 13, 2018 say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of public trust. He denounces the recommendations and rejects calls to step down.
AFP
