Federal Police Indicts Ex-President Lula Under Suspicion of Corruption to Benefit His Relative

10/06/2016 - 10h58

The Brazilian Federal Police have indicted former president Lula da Silva under suspicion of corruption as he is accused of benefiting a relative in contracts with construction company Odebrecht.

Taiguara Rodrigues, the nephew of Lula's first wife, and Marcelo Odebrecht, the company's former president, were indicted under suspicion of corruption and money laundering.

The investigation says that former president Lula allegedly benefited Marcelo Odebrecht, who works with Rodrigues through Odebrecht, on contracts in Angola. Lula also allegedly received illegal funds to help obtain resources of BNDES, The Brazilian Development Bank, to aid Odebrecht construction in Angola.

On Tuesday, October 3, the report was sent to the Public Attorney's Office to be analyzed - the document says that Exergia Brasil, Rodrigues's company, was subcontracted by Odebrecht to perform services in Angola although it did not have the appropriate structure or staff.

The investigators believe that Exergiaera's function was to receive bribes and part of these funds was allegedly transferred to Lula.

The federal police say that, between 2009 and 2015, the company received R$ 31 million (US$ 9.6 million) in current values from Odebrecht, its only client.

Messages exchanged by Rodrigues and Valmir Moraes, one of Lula's bodyguards, show that Rodrigues often talked to Lula about the situation in Angola, including during the period when his "uncle" was president.

THE OTHER SIDE

Lula's press office said that the former president "has always acted according to the law, before, during and after his two mandates as president."

Roberto Podval, the lawyer of Rodrigues, said that he does not see any crimes in the police report. Odebrecht did not want to comment.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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