Brazil to tighten entry rules to curb migration to North America
Brazil prosecutors seek Lula’s arrest for money laundering
12:52 CAT | 11 Mar 2016
Reuters / Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva waves to the crowd from his home in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, March 5, 2016.
State prosecutors in Brazil are seeking the arrest of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on charges of money laundering and identity fraud for concealing ownership of a beachfront apartment, local media reported on Thursday.
Sao Paulo state prosecutors declined to comment on possible arrests in a news conference regarding the charges earlier in the day, and court officials declined to comment on the news.
Newspapers O Globo and O Estado de S. Paulo reported the filing for Lula’s arrest citing court papers. Such a motion would have to be approved by a judge, who is unlikely to do so, according to the head of the ruling Workers’ Party.
Arresting the former president would raise the stakes dramatically in a crisis that has rattled his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, and may further polarize protests called for Sunday by the opposition to demand her impeachment.
Earlier Thursday, state prosecutor Cassio Roberto Conserino told reporters that two dozen witnesses said Lula was the owner of a luxury condo in the city of Guarujá, benefiting from real estate projects financed by a state bankers’ cooperative.
Lula has disavowed ownership of the apartment and denied any wrongdoing. His attorney has asked the Supreme Court to decide if the case is under the jurisdiction of state prosecutors or a separate federal probe tackling graft at state-run oil company Petrobras.
That two-year-old federal investigation has already rocked Brazil’s political and business establishment with high-profile arrests and convictions, while deepening the worst recession in decades in Latin America’s biggest economy.
The investigations now threaten to tarnish the legacy of Brazil’s most powerful politician, whose humble roots and anti-poverty programs made him a folk hero, by putting a spotlight on how members of his left-leaning Workers’
Party consolidated wealth and power since he rose to the presidency 13 years ago.
Workers’ Party President Rui Falcao told journalists in Brasilia that there were no grounds to arrest Lula and he was confident a judge would not grant a warrant.
Asked if the former president could join the current government as a minister, as some members of Rousseff’s cabinet have suggested, Falcao said the decision was up to Lula.
If appointed, Lula could only be tried in the Supreme Court, placing him out of the reach of the state and federal probes.
Lula’s lawyer, Cristiano Zanin Martins, said the prosecutors’ news conference on Thursday was further evidence of a “media campaign” against the former president.
“The owner of a property is the person listed in the registry. It doesn’t matter who some people think it belongs to,” he said.
Martins reiterated the former president’s account that he had invested in the real estate project, visited the unfinished apartment twice and then asked for his money back rather than receiving property.
Source: Reuters
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