Lula Convicted Of Corruption

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

In another chapter of the endless saga of corruption that is shaking Brazil, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced by a court this Wednesday to 9 and a half years in prison on charges of accepting bribes and money laundering in the Petrobras case.

The 71-year-old former president, who aspired to return to power in the next presidential elections, was accused of receiving an apartment in the Guarujá spa, Sao Paulo, from the construction company OAS in exchange for his influence to obtain contracts in Petrobras, the company oil company controlled by the Brazilian government. The judge in charge of the case ordered the confiscation of the property.

In addition to that property, the leader and founder of the Workers' Party was found guilty of accepting bribes by the same builder for the value of who is universally known, has always denied the allegations, and has said he considers himself the victim of a witch hunt in order of hindering his candidacy in the presidential elections of October 2018, of which he currently led the polls.

As he is appealing the court ruling, the former president will not enter prison until the process is exhausted.

Brazilian politics has been living for a few years in a huge corruption scandal that has stained Lula, his successor Dilma Rousseff and the current president, Michel Temer, in addition to a long list of legislators and public officials.