Brazil’s Lula indicted on alleged graft charges
August 27, 2016, 12:27 am

Lula has insisted he is innocent of graft allegations and said that his detention in March was politically motivated [Xinhua]

Lula, a hugely popular president who served from 2003 to 2010 and is credited with a number of initiatives that propelled GDP growth, has been under investigation since last September on suspicion that he had knowledge of an embezzlement operation at the state-run oil giant Petrobras.

However, it wasn’t until March that Lula was detained at his apartment in Sao Bernardo do Campo and taken to Congonhas airport to answer accusations that he received embezzled funds from within the Petrobras corruption ring.

At a press conference after being interrogated by federal investigators for three hours, Lula said he felt “offended” but the support he had received inspired him to “keep fighting.” He said this was an attempt to besmirch his and President Dilma Rousseff’s name.

Lula has said the investigators are running “a media circus”, not a serious probe.

But Friday’s indictment is the first formal procedure against Lula to emerge from three concurrent investigations into possible corruption during his presidency. Prosecutors will now attempt to convince a federal judge to move the charges to trial.

“The couple of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva benefited of illegal benefits from OAS [construction company], of a value of 2,430,193.61 reais ($745,000), in reference of apartment 164-A of the Solaris Building, as well as in the cost of storage of the couple’s goods,” police inspector Anselmo told local media.

Former OAS president Aldemario Pinheiro Filho, and architect Paulo Gordilho, was also indicted on Friday. Lula’s wife was also indicted.

Both Lula and his wife deny the charges and say they don’t own the apartment in question. Their lawyer says there is no evidence that they own the apartment.

The indictment comes at a sensitive time in Brazil’s history as a currently suspended president – Rousseff – is already facing a trial over mismanaging and misreporting the budget during her 2014 reelection campaign.

Most analysts believe that the trial will end next week with the Senate impeaching her and forcing her resignation.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies