Brazil: "scans" the Petrobras scandal - Free Lula
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was released after detained for a few hours after bringing him in for questioning as part of investigations into a huge corruption case, which has sparked a political crisis that threatens to topple his successor, the president Dilma Rousseff.
Lula da Silva has received "many favors' by large construction companies, which today are accused of corruption, as involved in the scandal Petrobras said prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, the head of research.
Lula received from these companies about 30 million reais (US $ 8 million) in donations or fees for lectures underlined the magistrate at the press conference from Curitiba.
"The favors are many and difficult to measure. It is easier to measure the work done in the three-story apartment in the cottage, "he continued. "Right now we are analyzing the evidence according to which the former president and his family benefited from these gifts," said dos Santos Lima, stating that it is currently examining the possibility to request custody of Lula.
Lula was brought in for questioning in the morning and his house was searched as part of the federal investigation into a case of bribery and money laundering. With this money, according to police, financed the campaigns and expenditure of the ruling Workers' Party. The police, who arrested Lula at his home in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, claim to have evidence that bribed.
"The former president Lula, apart from the party leader, was the one who finally took the decision about who will be director of Petrobras (the state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA) and was one of the main beneficiaries of these crimes" said a police statement. "There is evidence that enriched by these crimes and funded election campaigns and political party fund".
The Lula institution responded with his own statement describing the flow of the former president "attack on the rule of law and of Brazilian society", referring to an "arbitrary, illegal and unjustified" arrest.
Many leaders of Party Workers rushed to defend the former President and Labour Minister Miguel Rochette said that the burden is "a clear attack on what represents Lula." "This is not justice, is violence," he said.
On the way out of the house of Lula supporters dressed in red shirts chanted slogans and, in some cases, came to blows with opponents who organized a counter demonstration.
Dozens of police officers rushed to the spot to stop the fighting and evacuated by force the way. Supporters Lula had also gathered at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, where the headquarters of the federal police.
"Lula is a political divides the Brazilian society," noted political analyst Rafael Cortes. "Whether imprisoned or not, the accusations against him will mobilize the political forces that will go on the road," he said.
The federal prosecutor's office ordered the current research indicates that it has evidence that the former president was bribed by the fraud circuit that operated the state oil company, through work done in a luxury seaside apartment available and a cottage.
Lula stressed that the apartment is not his, but belongs to the construction company OAS, but prosecutors insist the gatekeepers, the engineers of the OAS and the contractors have said all that was for the family of the former president.
The OAS also reportedly paid about 1.3 million. Reais for the transportation and storage of items that were removed from the presidential palace Alvoranta when the term of Lula ended.
Prosecutors are also considering the money they gave to Lula various companies involved in Petrobras scandal like Odebrecth, as gifts or remuneration for the speeches.
According to the survey, in exchange for "gifts" of politicians, companies receiving lucrative government contracts.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was released after detained for a few hours after bringing him in for questioning as part of investigations into a huge corruption case, which has sparked a political crisis that threatens to topple his successor, the president Dilma Rousseff.
Lula da Silva has received "many favors' by large construction companies, which today are accused of corruption, as involved in the scandal Petrobras said prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, the head of research.
Lula received from these companies about 30 million reais (US $ 8 million) in donations or fees for lectures underlined the magistrate at the press conference from Curitiba.
"The favors are many and difficult to measure. It is easier to measure the work done in the three-story apartment in the cottage, "he continued. "Right now we are analyzing the evidence according to which the former president and his family benefited from these gifts," said dos Santos Lima, stating that it is currently examining the possibility to request custody of Lula.
Lula was brought in for questioning in the morning and his house was searched as part of the federal investigation into a case of bribery and money laundering. With this money, according to police, financed the campaigns and expenditure of the ruling Workers' Party. The police, who arrested Lula at his home in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, claim to have evidence that bribed.
"The former president Lula, apart from the party leader, was the one who finally took the decision about who will be director of Petrobras (the state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA) and was one of the main beneficiaries of these crimes" said a police statement. "There is evidence that enriched by these crimes and funded election campaigns and political party fund".
The Lula institution responded with his own statement describing the flow of the former president "attack on the rule of law and of Brazilian society", referring to an "arbitrary, illegal and unjustified" arrest.
Many leaders of Party Workers rushed to defend the former President and Labour Minister Miguel Rochette said that the burden is "a clear attack on what represents Lula." "This is not justice, is violence," he said.
On the way out of the house of Lula supporters dressed in red shirts chanted slogans and, in some cases, came to blows with opponents who organized a counter demonstration.
Dozens of police officers rushed to the spot to stop the fighting and evacuated by force the way. Supporters Lula had also gathered at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, where the headquarters of the federal police.
"Lula is a political divides the Brazilian society," noted political analyst Rafael Cortes. "Whether imprisoned or not, the accusations against him will mobilize the political forces that will go on the road," he said.
The federal prosecutor's office ordered the current research indicates that it has evidence that the former president was bribed by the fraud circuit that operated the state oil company, through work done in a luxury seaside apartment available and a cottage.
Lula stressed that the apartment is not his, but belongs to the construction company OAS, but prosecutors insist the gatekeepers, the engineers of the OAS and the contractors have said all that was for the family of the former president.
The OAS also reportedly paid about 1.3 million. Reais for the transportation and storage of items that were removed from the presidential palace Alvoranta when the term of Lula ended.
Prosecutors are also considering the money they gave to Lula various companies involved in Petrobras scandal like Odebrecth, as gifts or remuneration for the speeches.
According to the survey, in exchange for "gifts" of politicians, companies receiving lucrative government contracts.
