Brazil's former president faces new corruption charges
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been confronted with fresh allegations of criminal charges linked to the massive embezzlement scheme at state-owned Petrobras oil company.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused Lula of taking bribes from the construction giant Odebrecht in the forms of an apartment and land on which to build his Lula Institute think tank in Sao Paulo.
Lula “is accused of practicing the crimes of passive corruption and money laundering," the federal prosecutors' service said in a statement. His wife, also, is accused of money laundering.
There was no immediate reaction from Lula to the new charges.
The Workers’ Party founder is already facing earlier charges of corruption and money laundering. He is also on trial for “obstruction of justice.
A judge will now have to decide whether Lula should appear in the court on the latest charges as well.
Business guru Marcelo Odebrecht, and eight others, have been named alongside Lula in the latest charges, in which prosecutors allege a total of 75 million reais ($22.1 million) in bribes linked to eight Petrobras contracts.
Odebrecht’s construction company is a major player in the massive embezzlement and bribery scheme at Petrobras.
Odebrecht has already been convicted on earlier charges and received a sentence to 19 years in prison.
However, he and nearly 80 other executives from his company are currently cooperating with prosecutors in a plea bargain to get reduced sentences.
The once hugely popular leftist leader Lula has been described by prosecutors as the “mastermind” of the Petrobras embezzlement scheme.
Dozens of politicians have been implicated in the scheme to line their own pockets and boost party campaign funds in exchange for facilitating inflated government contracts related to Petrobras.
The current president, Michel Temer, is among those being implicated in the scheme, according to Brazilian media reports.
Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office earlier this year.
Despite being the target of several criminal charges and numerous court trials, Lula has said he is willing to run for office again in 2018.
Polls show that if he participates he would be a frontrunner in the presidential election; however, he lacks the high ratings he enjoyed during his 2003-2010 tenure.
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