Brazil’s ex-president Lula describes charges against him as ‘farcical’
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has dismissed charges of corruption against him, describing the allegations as “farcical.”
“I am sad because I just learned [Judge Sergio] Moro accepted the charge lodged, even though it is all a farce, a huge lie,” the leftist ex-president said on Tuesday.
Lula, 70, will now face trial for his alleged role in masterminding the large-scale scandal involving state oil giant Petrobras.
Lula and many of the country’s most influential leaders and powerful political party members are implicated in the case.
Based on the charges, Lula received bribes amounting to 1.1 million dollars.
Lula, who is the co-founder of the powerful Workers’ Party, was president from 2003 to 2011. During his time in office, the country witnessed a boom in productivity, demand, sales, as well as wage hikes, helping Lula garner public approval and high popularity.
However, his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, who hails from the same party, was ousted by the Senate over tampering with financial data during an electoral cmpaign.
Although Rousseff herself was not implicated in the Petrobras case, the repercussions of the wide-scale scandal did much to diminish her popularity as well as that of the ruling party.
Former vice president Michel Temer succeeded Rousseff to serve out what would have been the remainder of her second term until 2018.
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