Federal Police seek charges against former President Lula and wife
The Federal Police (PF) recommended prosecutors to charge former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Marisa Letícia, his wife.
The Federal Police (PF) recommended prosecutors to charge former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Marisa Letícia, his wife. The move was carried out as part of Operation Car Wash, which probes into the purchase of a triplex apartment in Guarujá, on the São Paulo coast. Police Commissioner Márcio Anselmo reported that Lula should answer to the crimes of passive corruption, misrepresentation, and money laundering.
According to Anselmo, Lula and Maria Letícia were the “beneficiaries of unlawful advantages” granted by construction company OAS in the renovation of the apartment as well as the storage of goods belonging to Lula through a deposit. The amounts, the police report says, add up to over $755 thousand, linked to “the refurbishment of apartment 164-A of a building named Edifício Solares and the funding for the storage of goods.”
Also accused as part of the same crackdown were former OAS CEO Léo Pinheiro, OAS ex-director Paulo Roberto Valente Gordilho, and Lula Institute head Paulo Okamotto.
Defense
When contacted by our reporter, Lula Institute declared that the onetime president is not owner of the property. A post on Lula's Facebook page reads, “On the final week before the end of [Rousseff's] impeachment [case], Car Wash investigators bring the false allegations back to life in the media according to which Lula is the proprietor of a triplex in Guarujá,” followed by a list of documents refuting his ownership.
Lula's lawyers said they would issue a note on the indictment later in the afternoon.
In a press release, Fernando Augusto Fernandes, a lawyer for Lula Institute head Paulo Okamotto, said no crimes were committed in the contribution received by the institute for storing the collection after Lula's term as president was over.
“The collection is private—a collection of interest to the public and the Brazilian nation, regulated by law. The archive is formed by thousands of letters and souvenirs of the Brazilian people and foreign authorities offered to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The preservation of all those tokens of memory falls under the responsibility of Lula Institute,” reads the statement sent as response to Agência Brasil.
Brazilian law stipulates that former presidents are in charge of the preservation of the collection gathered throughout their tenures. In a communication released to the press in March this year, Lula Institute's press office reports that “the presidency provided the selection and the delivery of ex-President Lula's private documentary collection the same way it did his predecessors, in observance with the law,” adding that “part of this archive is being cataloged and treated for compliance with the law in efforts spearheaded by Lula Institute, as has been done with the private collection of other former Brazilian presidents.”
OAS declared it would make no remarks on the indictment.
*Elaine Patrícia Cruz contributed to this article in São Paulo.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Federal Police seek charges against former President Lula and wife
