Yes, like I said, like most leftist regimes, it's corrupt. I don't care about his net worth....that isn't a sign of corruption per se.....but he's nonetheless corrupt.
en.wikipedia.org
Corruption scandals and controversy
Mensalão
Lula's administration was plagued by numerous corruption scandals,
[82][83] notably the
Mensalão scandal and
Escândalo dos sanguessugas [
pt] in his first term. Brazilian attorney general Álvaro Augusto Ribeiro Costa presented charges against 40 politicians and officials involved in the Mensalão affair, including several charges against Lula himself. Lula stated on Brazilian public television that he knew nothing about the scandals.
[84] Top officials involved, such as
Roberto Jefferson,
José Dirceu,
Luiz Gushiken and
Humberto Costa have corroborated this; but one of his own party members,
Arlindo Chinaglia, alleged that Lula had been warned about the matter.
[85] Having lost numerous government aides in the face of political turmoil, Lula survived largely unscathed in the eyes of the public, with overwhelming approval rates.
Politicking
His administration was heavily criticized for relying on local, right-of-centre political barons, like
José Sarney,
Jader Barbalho,
Renan Calheiros and
Fernando Collor to ensure a majority in
Congress. Another frequent reproach was his ambiguous treatment of the left wing of the PT. Analysts felt that he would occasionally give in to left-wing calls for tighter government control on media and increased state intervention: in 2004, he pushed for the creation of a "Federal Council of Journalists" (CFJ) and a "National Cinema Agency" (Ancinav), the latter designed to overhaul funding for
electronic communications. Both proposals ultimately failed amid concerns over the effect of state control on free speech.
[86][87]
Statement on the Great Recession
Before a
G-20 summit in London in March 2009, Lula caused an uproar by declaring that the
economic crisis was caused by "the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who before seemed to know everything, and now have shown they don't know anything."
[88]
Cesare Battisti
When wanted Italian terrorist
Cesare Battisti was arrested in Rio de Janeiro on 18 March 2007 by Brazilian and French police officers, Brazilian Minister of Justice
Tarso Genro granted him status as a political refugee, a controversial decision which divided Italy and the Brazilian and international press. On 5 February 2009, the
European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of Italy and held a minute's silence in memory of Battisti's victims. On 18 November 2009, the Brazilian Supreme Court declared the refugee status illegal and allowed Battisi's extradition, but also stated that the Brazilian constitution gave the president personal powers to deny the extradition if he chose to, effectively putting the final decision in the hands of Lula.
[89] Lula barred Battisti's extradition.
[90] On 31 December 2010, Lula's last day in office, the decision not to allow extradition was officially announced. Battisti was released on 9 June 2011 from prison after the Brazilian Constitutional Court denied Italy's request to extradite him. Italy planned to appeal to the
International Court of Justice in The Hague.
[91] Battisti was extradited in December 2018.
[92]
Operation Car Wash: corruption investigation and prosecution
Demonstrators gather in front of the
Palácio do Planalto, the presidential palace, to protest against Lula's appointment as
Chief of Staff of the Presidency, 16 March 2016.
Lula is sworn in as Chief of Staff by President
Dilma Rousseff on 17 March 2016.
In 2014, Brazil began
Operação Lava Jato (English:
Operation Car Wash), resulting in several arrests and convictions, including nine suits against Lula.
In April 2015, the
Public Ministry of Brazil opened an investigation into allegations of
influence peddling by Lula, which alleged that between 2011 and 2014 he had lobbied for government contracts in foreign countries for the
Odebrecht company and had also persuaded the
Brazilian Development Bank to finance the projects in
Ghana,
Angola,
Cuba, and the
Dominican Republic.
[93] In June 2015,
Marcelo Odebrecht, president of Odebrecht, was arrested on charges that he had paid politicians $230 million in bribes.
[94] Three other company executives were also arrested, as well as the chief executive of
Andrade Gutierrez, another construction conglomerate.
[95]
On 4 March 2016, as part of "Operation Car Wash", Brazilian authorities raided Lula's home.
[96][97] After the raid, the police detained Lula for questioning.
[98][99] A police statement alleged that Lula had collaborated in illegal bribes from the oil company
Petrobras to benefit his political party and presidential campaign.
[98] Prosecutor Carlos Fernando said, "The favors to Lula from big construction companies involved in the fraud at Petrobras were many and hard to quantify".
[100] Lula said that he and his party were being politically persecuted.
[101][102][103]
On 16 March 2016, Rousseff appointed Lula as her
chief of staff, a position comparable to that of prime minister. This would have shielded him from arrest due to the immunity that went with the position.
[104] Cabinet ministers in Brazil are among close to seven hundred senior government officials enjoying special judicial standing, which means they can only be tried by Brazil's
Supreme Federal Court. Supreme Court Judge
Gilmar Mendes suspended Lula da Silva's appointment on the grounds that Rousseff was trying to help Lula circumvent prosecution.
[105][106]
On 14 September 2016, prosecutors filed corruption charges against Lula, accusing him of being the mastermind or 'maximum commander of the scheme'.
[107] On 19 September 2016, 13th Circuit (
Paraná) federal judge
Sérgio Moro, who was leading the corruption probe, accepted an indictment for money laundering against Lula and his wife
Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva. On 11 May 2017, Lula answered a summons by appearing in
Curitiba and was questioned by Moro. The closed-court hearing lasted five hours. Thousands of Lula supporters went to Curitiba, together with Dilma Rousseff. After the hearing, Lula and Rousseff gave speeches to his supporters; Lula attacked what he called bias in the Brazilian media.
[108]
Lula was found guilty by the lower court of accepting R$3.7 million in bribes ($1.2 million US) in the form of improvements to his beachfront house, made by construction company
Grupo Metha [
pt], which in turn received lucrative contracts from the state-owned oil company
Petrobras.
[109] Lula also faced other charges, including money laundering, influence peddling and obstruction of justice.
[110][109] On 12 July 2017,
Sergio Moro sentenced Lula to nine and a half years in prison.
[111] Lula remained free pending his appeal.
[112] Lula's lawyer accused the judge of bias and the judge replied that nobody, not even the former president, should be above the
rule of law.
[112]
On 25 January 2018, the Appeal Court of Porto Alegre found Lula guilty of corruption and money laundering and increased his sentence to 12 years of prison
[113] for one of the nine charges, while the other eight were still pending. On 26 March 2018, that same court upheld its own sentence, thus ending the case in that court.
[114]
On 23 March 2021, the Supreme Federal Court ruled by a 3–2 decision that Moro, who had overseen Lula's trial in a case, was biased against him.
[26] It upheld the ruling on 23 June by a 7–4 decision.
[115] Judge
Gilmar Mendes of the Supreme Federal Court on 24 June annulled the two other cases Moro had brought against Lula, reasoning that there was a link between them and the case in which Moro was declared biased. This meant that all evidence Moro had collected against Lula is inadmissible in court and fresh trials would be needed.
[116]
www.bloomberg.com
www.trtworld.com
nypost.com
www.propublica.org
www.theatlantic.com
thehill.com
