Brazil's Top Court Rejects Rousseff Probe

Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an opposition request that President Dilma Rousseff be investigated as part of a widening probe into a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal at state oil giant Petrobras.

The justice in charge of the case, Teori Zavascki, turned down the petition on grounds it contained "technical errors," the court's press office said.

The center-left Popular Socialist Party (PPS) party filed the petition with support from figures from other opposition parties, including Social Democrat Aecio Neves, who lost to Rousseff in a presidential run-off in December.

Some of Brazil's largest construction companies are alleged to have been awarded inflated Petrobras contracts over a 10-year-period, unleashing a flood of dirty money used for bribes and political payoffs.

Rousseff was Petrobras's board chairman during much of the period under investigation.

The Supreme Court so far is investigating 13 senators, 22 deputies and two state governors.

Separately, federal prosecutors this week formally charged 27 people with corruption and money laundering, including the treasurer of the ruling Workers Party.

Those cases have been assigned to a judge in the southern city of Curitiba who must decide if there is sufficient evidence to try those accused.

Rousseff has been under intensifying pressure since her re-election, with the fall-out from the corruption scandal and a souring economy.

A poll published Wednesday found that her approval ratings plummeted 10 points this week to 13 percent after mass protests over the weekend. Public disapproval of her performance soared to 62 percent, a level not seen since 1992 on the eve of the impeachment of then president Fernando Collor de Mello.