Police raid home of Brazil's ex-president Lula
Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:47:pm World
3K By sosa hills
Brazilian police officers raided the home of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president who is under investigation in the colossal graft scheme involving the national oil company Petrobras, on Friday morning.
Officers from the Federal Police swarmed Mr. da Silva's home in São Paulo, according to reports on television. He was taken to a police station at Congonhas Airport for questioning. Although he was in custody, he has not been arrested or charged.
Mr. da Silva, 70, has been facing an array of legal challenges related largely to his close ties to giant construction companies that profited from lucrative government contracts. He has been facing questions about suspicions that construction companies paid for renovations of a country estate and beachfront apartment to be used by his family
Universally known as Lula, Mr. da Silva, who served from 2003 through 2010, remains the most towering figure in the governing left-wing Workers' Party. He continues to exert considerable sway in the capital, Brasília, ranking among Brazil's most powerful figures.
The growing scrutiny of Mr. da Silva has brought angry rebukes from him and his supporters. A news report on Thursday claimed that Delcídio do Amaral, a senator in the Workers' Party, was negotiating a plea deal in which he would testify that Mr. da Silva had arranged for illegal payments to Marcos Valrio de Souza, a businessman convicted of operating a vote-buying scheme during Mr. da Silva's time in office.
"Lula never participated, directly or indirectly, in any illegal act during or after his government," a spokesman for the former president's institute said in a statement on Thursday.
Officers from the Federal Police swarmed Mr. da Silva's home in São Paulo, according to reports on television. He was taken to a police station at Congonhas Airport for questioning. Although he was in custody, he has not been arrested or charged.
Mr. da Silva, 70, has been facing an array of legal challenges related largely to his close ties to giant construction companies that profited from lucrative government contracts. He has been facing questions about suspicions that construction companies paid for renovations of a country estate and beachfront apartment to be used by his family
Universally known as Lula, Mr. da Silva, who served from 2003 through 2010, remains the most towering figure in the governing left-wing Workers' Party. He continues to exert considerable sway in the capital, Brasília, ranking among Brazil's most powerful figures.
The growing scrutiny of Mr. da Silva has brought angry rebukes from him and his supporters. A news report on Thursday claimed that Delcídio do Amaral, a senator in the Workers' Party, was negotiating a plea deal in which he would testify that Mr. da Silva had arranged for illegal payments to Marcos Valrio de Souza, a businessman convicted of operating a vote-buying scheme during Mr. da Silva's time in office.
"Lula never participated, directly or indirectly, in any illegal act during or after his government," a spokesman for the former president's institute said in a statement on Thursday.
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