RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian federal investigators have charged former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with money laundering and corruption.

The charges announced Wednesday are in connection with a sprawling corruption investigation at state-run oil giant Petrobras.

Silva, his wife and five others are accused of illegally benefiting from renovations at a beachfront apartment in the coastal city of Guaruja, in Sao Paulo state. The improvements were made by constructors involved in the kickback scheme emanating from Petrobras.

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2016 file photo, Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Brazil. Federal investigators charged Lula with money laundering and corruption on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 in connection with a sprawling corruption investigation at state-run oil giant Petrobras. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Silva acknowledges having visited the penthouse but says he never owned it.

Police recommended the charges last month. Judge Sergio Moro must now decide whether Silva will stand trial.

In a separate case related to Petrobras, Silva will go on trial charged with obstruction of justice. </s> Brazilian federal investigators have charged former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with money laundering and corruption.

The charges are in connection with a sprawling corruption investigation at state-run oil giant Petrobras.

Silva, his wife and five others are accused of illegally benefiting from renovations at a beachfront apartment in the coastal city of Guaruja, in Sao Paulo state.

The improvements were made by constructors involved in the kickback scheme emanating from Petrobras.

Silva acknowledges having visited the penthouse but says he never owned it.

Judge Sergio Moro must now decide whether Silva will stand trial.

In a separate case related to Petrobras, Silva will go on trial charged with obstruction of justice. </s> BRASILIA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors have filed corruption charges against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife in the sprawling Petrobras kickback scandal, GloboNews TV reported on Wednesday.

This was the first time Lula, still Brazil's most popular politician despite corruption accusations against his Workers Party, was charged directly by federal prosecutors for involvement in the graft scheme at the state-run oil company. His case will go before crusading anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro. Prosecutors will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. (1800 GMT). (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) </s> CURITIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors charged ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday with being the “boss” of a vast corruption scheme at state oil company Petrobras, in a major blow to the leftist hero’s hopes of a political comeback.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva talks with his wife Marisa Leticia during a ceremony at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, June 26, 2007. REUTERS/Jamil Bittar/File Photo

It was the first time that Lula, still Brazil’s most popular politician despite corruption accusations against him and his Workers Party, was charged by federal prosecutors for involvement in the political kickbacks scheme at Petroleo Brasileiro (PETR4.SA), as the company is officially known.

Public Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol told a news conference that Lula will be charged with corruption and money laundering for leading a kickback scheme that caused an estimated 42 billion reais ($12.6 billion) in losses to Petrobras shareholders and tax payers.

“He was the conductor of this criminal orchestra,” Dallagnol said during a detailed presentation of the investigation. “The Petrobras graft scheme aimed at keeping the Workers Party in power by criminal means.”

Lula’s lawyers said prosecutors lacked evidence to back up their accusations which were part of political persecution to stop him running in the 2018 election.

“This Lula-centered farce was trumped up as an affront to the democratic state and intelligence of Brazilian citizens,” one of Lula’s lawyers, Cristiano Zanin, told reporters in Sao Paulo.

Dallagnol stopped short of saying investigators would seek an arrest order for Lula, who became a hero to many poor Brazilians during his 2003-2010 government.

The two-year-old Operation Carwash anti-corruption investigation, based in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, has uncovered how political appointees named by Lula’s Workers Party and its allies handed overpriced contracts to engineering firms in return for illicit party funding and bribes.

The scandal helped topple the Workers Party from power last month by crushing the popularity of Lula’s chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff. She was impeached by Congress on unrelated charges of breaking budget rules, amid rising anger over her handling of Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s.

Dallagnol said that Lula, because of his control of the machinery of the Workers Party and the Brazilian government, was the central figure in the scheme.

Prosecutors allege that the charismatic former union leader had personally received some 3.7 million reais ($1.11 million) in bribes, including a luxury apartment on the coast of Sao Paulo from one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the bribery scandal, OAS.

Lula has denied ownership of the three-floor condo in Guarujá.

Related Coverage Brazil prosecutors say Lula was 'general' of vast Petrobras graft scheme

Lula’s case will go before crusading anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro, who has jailed dozens of executives and others involved in the scheme.

Former first lady, Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva, has also been charged.

Lula has separately been indicted by a court in Brasilia for obstruction of justice in a case related to an attempt to persuade a defendant in the Petrobras scandal not to turn state’s witness.

BLOW TO LULA MYTH

Lula, 70, has not ruled out running again for president in 2018, but a criminal conviction would bar him from being a candidate for the next eight years.

His fall, as well as that of the leftist party he founded in 1980, has been dramatic.

A one-time shoeshine boy and union leader who led massive strikes against Brazil’s military dictatorship, contributing to its downfall, he was elected the nation’s first working class president in 2002 after three failed campaigns.

Wildly popular with Brazil’s poor, Lula’s social policies helped yank millions out of poverty and into the middle class, and he left office in 2010 with an 83-percent approval rating and an economy that grew at a blistering 7.5 percent.

But two years ago, as the Petrobras probe became public, prosecutors began to slowly put Lula in their crosshairs.

Many prosecutors and investigators say they cannot imagine such a powerful figure was unaware of the institutionalized corruption and political kickbacks taking place at Petrobras and other state-run companies.

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.

“That means the Workers Party, which may have thought it would move comfortably into the opposition after Dilma’s impeachment, will confront extreme challenges,” said Troyjo. “It’s certainly the beginning of the end to Lula’s presidential aspirations for 2018.”

Slideshow (3 Images)

Recent polls have shown that despite the investigations targeting Lula and the Workers Party, he would be a favorite to win the next presidential election.

“But these charges are likely too big a blow to the political myth of Lula, to the candidate Lula and to the Workers Party as a whole for that to happen,” Troyjo said. </s> Rio de Janeiro (AP) — Brazilian investigators on Wednesday charged former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with money laundering and corruption, calling him the “maximum commander” of the mammoth graft scandal roiling Latin America’s largest nation.

While the charges against Silva were expected — police recommended them last month — the characterization of his role in the kickback scheme at state oil company Petrobras was stunning.

The so-called Car Wash investigation the last two years has led to the jailing of dozens of businessmen and top politicians. While Silva, president between 2003 and 2010, has long been implicated, before Wednesday prosecutors had never said that he was anything more than a beneficiary.

Silva was “the maximum commander of the corruption scheme identified as Car Wash” Deltan Dallagnol, head of the task force investigating, said during a televised news conference from the southern city of Curitiba.

“We are not judging here who (Silva) is or was as a person, but what he did or didn’t do to the people,” Dallagnol said.

Dallagnol put up diagrams that purported to show Silva’s connection to various players in the kickback scheme going back more than a decade. He said prosecutors could show that Silva had met at key times with people involved in the scheme, such as Marcelo Odebrecht, the former president of the big Odebrecht construction company who has been jailed.

Dallagnol alleged that Silva, who left the presidency with very high approval ratings, used a network of illegal campaign financing and kickbacks for political support in Congress.

Silva’s lawyer, Cristiano Zanin Martins, blasted Dallagnol, saying he had shown himself unfit for the job.

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

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

Silva, his wife and five others were accused of illegally benefiting from renovations at a beachfront apartment in the coastal city of Guaruja in Sao Paulo state. The improvements, valued at about $750,000, were made by construction company OAS, one of those involved in the kickback scheme emanating from Petrobras. Prosecutors also believe Silva benefited from OAS paying the rent of storage unit to house symbolic gifts that Silva received while president.

Silva acknowledges having visited the penthouse but says he never owned it.

Sergio Moro, the judge overseeing the probe, must now decide whether Silva will stand trial.

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

While his Workers’ Party has lost much support amid corruption scandals in recent years, Silva continues to enjoy popularity nationwide and has signaled his intention to run for president in 2018.

The yawning gap between the verbal accusations Wednesday and what Silva was accused of raised many questions about the future of the investigation.

Silva, who denies wrongdoing, has long been trying to get the cases against him removed from the jurisdiction of Moro, who has become famous for locking up prominent figures the last two years.

Legal experts said that making such drastic statements could help prosecutors retrain the case in their jurisdiction and keep the investigation in the public eye.

However, such maneuvers also come with risks.

“The harsh wording shows that the evidence might not be that great,” said Cezar Britto, former head of Brazilian Bar Association. “It looks as if the prosecutors are looking for the support of society instead of looking for more evidence.” </s> CURITIBA, Brazil, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors filed corruption charges on Wednesday against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his wife and six others in the sprawling Petrobras kickback scandal.

This was the first time Lula, still Brazil's most popular politician despite corruption accusations against him and his Workers Party, was charged by federal prosecutors for involvement in the massive graft scheme at the state-run oil company.

Lula's case will go before crusading anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro, who has jailed dozens of executives and others involved in the scheme.

Lula could face arrest for receiving a luxury apartment on the coast of Sao Paulo from one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the bribery scandal. Lula has denied ownership of the three-floor condo in Guarujá.

Federal police urged prosecutors last month to bring charges against Lula and his wife, accusing them of receiving some 2.4 million reais ($747,896) in benefits from the builder OAS in relation to the apartment.

Lula, a charismatic former union leader who was a two-term president from 2003 to 2010, has separately been indicted by a court in Brasilia for obstruction of justice in a case related to an attempt to persuade a defendant in the Petrobras scandal not to turn state's witness.

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

Last month, his protégé and successor as president, Dilma Rousseff, was removed from office in an impeachment trial.

Rousseff's fall was driven by Brazil's worst recession since the 1930s and its biggest ever corruption scandal, which has implicated dozens of politicians from her ruling coalition, including several in the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party led by current President Michel Temer. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) </s> BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian Justice Minister Sergio Moro said on Wednesday that he has nothing to hide regarding allegedly leaked personal messages with prosecutors from when he was the judge leading the bribery trial that jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Moro told a Senate committee in Brasilia that some of the messages attributed to him could have been doctored and that he suspects organized crime is behind the alleged hacking. Moro said he always acted according to the law when he was overseeing the landmark “Car Wash” corruption probe. </s> Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was found guilty of corruption Wednesday in the first of five trials facing the popular politician.

A federal judge sentenced the former leader of Latin America’s biggest country to nine years and six months in prison after his conviction Wednesday. He will remain free while the decision is appealed.

Lula was convicted of accepting $1.2 million in bribes from contractor OAS, which prosecutors said was used for the purchase and renovation of a luxury penthouse apartment in the seaside town of Guaruja. Prosecutors said that in return Lula helped the firm win contracts with state-run oil giant Petrobras.

The verdict by Judge Sergio Moro, who is known for taking a tough stance on politicians and entrepreneurs involved in Brazil’s billion-dollar corruption scandal known as Lava Jato, or Car Wash, will be analyzed by the 4th Federal Regional Court, a standard practice. The court takes an average of a year and a half to review sentencing decisions.

Moro will also preside over one of Lula’s other four Lava Jato-related trials. The other three will be tried in the Federal Court of Brasilia.

This is the highest-profile conviction to date related to the widespread graft investigation, which has seen several politicians and well-known figures in business fall from grace for their involvement in the sweeping corruption scheme.

They include impeached lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who is serving a sentence of 15 years and four months for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, and former Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of corruption and money laundering.

Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2011, is considered the country’s most popular politician and was seen as the top candidate for the 2018 elections in polling company Datafolha’s June poll.

12:30 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with Times reporting.

This article was originally published at 11:55 am. </s> Four congressional commissions asked Sergio Moro to explain details from a scandal that is involving more people each time.

The Lower House summoned Justice Minister Sergio Moro to a hearing on June 26 to testify about The Intercept-leaked audios, in which he and Attorney General Deltan Dallagnol coordinated a joint action to prevent former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from running in the 2018 presidential elections.

"The minister is haunted by the Intercept revelations and even more so to come. He must, after all, be remembering much of everything he did," Marcio Jerry, a congressman from the Communist Party (PCdoB), said.

The Human Rights and Minority Commission (CDHM), the Labor, Administration and Public Service Committee (CTASP) and the Financial Control Committee (CFFC) decided to hold a single joint hearing at the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJC).

The information disclosed by The Intercept shows that the then acting federal judge Moro advised prosecutors in several phases of the "Car Wash" case, which was an illegal interference that led to a ban on Lula's candidacy to while remaining in prison and boosted Jair Bolsonaro's chances at winning the presidency.

"Moro was jeered by the crowd at the stadium but the media did not show it."

The Supreme Justice Court vice president Luiz Fux also came under fire Wednesday when new revelation showed that he was involved in the scandal, calling into question the fairness of the trial behind Lula's conviction.

The Intercept Brazil director Leandro Demory revealed Monday that Judge Fuxhad supported Dallagnol and Moro in their actions.

At a private conversation, Dallagnol says, "he said that we should count on him for what we need, once again," to which Moro replied, "Excellent. In Fux we trust".

According to The Intercept, Moro suggested that the prosecutors of Car Wash case change the order of the phases of the operation and other procedures that supposed to be prohibited by law.

The confidential information disclosed have caused a stir in Brazil and led the defense of Lula to reiterate that the leftist politician is a victim of political persecution, prompting them to demand that the trial against him should be declared void.​​​​​​​

In 2017, Moro handed out a sentence of to nine years and six months in prison to Lula for corruption, arguing that he had received a beach apartment in exchange for political favors to the Odebrecht construction multinational company.

"The head of the Car Wash case was no one else than Moro. Dallagnol was a fool. It's proven," Supreme Justice Gilmar Mendes said and added that Moro and Dallagnol committed a crime.

"Simulating a complaint is not just an ethical fault. That's a crime."

While the Brazilians could not get out of their astonishment at The Intercept leaks, Minister Moro and President Bolsonaro met at the Alvorada Palace Tuesday and were later seen together at a military ceremony and at a soccer game in Brasilia on Wednesday night.​​​​​​ in a show of solidarity.

When asked if Bolsonaro still trusts Moro, presidential spokesperson Otavio Rego Barros said that "all the ministers of President Jair Bolsonaro's administration have the confidence of the executive branch head."​​​​​​​
Brazilian prosecutors file corruption charges against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his wife, Marisa Letícia Lula da Silva. Federal judge Sérgio Moro will preside over his case.