Lula to respond to charges he masterminded Brazil graft

Federal prosecutors accused Lula on Wednesday of being the “maximum commander” of the Petrobras corruption scheme, and charged the former president, his wife, and several others with money laundering and corruption.

Prosecutors allege Lula, 70, was the “big boss” behind the corruption scandal involving Petrobras, a semi-public oil and gas company, that led to $12.6 billion in losses.

Lula said the charges against him are “politically motivated” and without legal backing.

Despite a litany of accusations against Silva, there were only two actual charges: money laundering and corruption.

Prosecutors had been investigating whether Lula and his wife failed to declare ownership of a luxury flat.

In the scheme, Petrobras, Brazil’s biggest state company, gave over-inflated contracts to other big firms, such as OAS and construction rival Odebrecht.

In a statement, the police said they were also seeking 11 people for interrogation in three states as well as the federal district in the latest phase of the investigation known as the “Acronym Operation” that started previous year.

Rousseff was replaced on August 31 by center-right President Michel Temer, her former vice president-turned-nemesis.

Lula’s fall, and that of the leftist party he founded in 1980, has been dramatic.

In a separate case related to Petrobras, Silva will go on trial charged with obstruction of justice.

The well-known judge Sergio Moro, who is in charge of overseeing the probe, has yet to decide whether charges against Lula warrant a trial.

Wearing a red Workers’ Party shirt beneath a gray blazer, Lula recalled how social programmes launched during his administration helped tens of millions of Brazilians escape poverty.

A conviction would dash Lula’s hopes of running for a third term in office in the 2018 elections.

Marcos Troyjo, a former Brazilian diplomat and co-director of Columbia University’s BRICLab in Rio de Janeiro, said he thinks Wednesday’s charges are the first of many Lula will be facing in the coming months.

“The damage to the Workers Party is enormous”. “It’s certainly the beginning of the end to Lula’s presidential aspirations for 2018”.

“For Operation Car Wash, Lula’s crime was having been president of the Republic”, the statement said.

“His political behavior is incompatible with the role of a federal prosecutor”, said Martins.