• Home
  • Mail
  • News
  • Finance
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Search
  • Mobile
  • More
Yahoo
    • Skip to Navigation
    • Skip to Main Content
    • Skip to Related Content
    • Mail
    Advertisement

    Former Brazil leader Lula gets nearly 10 years in jail for graft

    Damian WROCLAVSKY
    ,
    AFP•July 13, 2017
    • Brazilian former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva will appeal his corruption sentence (AFP Photo/EVARISTO SA)
    • Brazilian anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro is leading the charge in Operation "Car Wash" -- and putting politicians and business executives in jail (AFP Photo/PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA)
    1 / 2

    Brazilian former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva will appeal his corruption sentence

    Brazilian former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva will appeal his corruption sentence (AFP Photo/EVARISTO SA)

    Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for graft in a stark fall from grace for the iconic leftist leader.

    Lula, who ruled Brazil from 2003-2010, was convicted and handed a 9.5-year prison term on Wednesday for accepting a luxury seaside apartment and $1.1 million, the latest twist in a giant corruption probe engulfing Latin America's largest economy.

    But anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro said the 71-year-old Lula would remain free pending an appeal -- something his lawyers immediately said they would lodge.

    "We are appealing and will prove his innocence," the lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP.

    The conviction nevertheless landed a heavy blow on the prospect of Lula making a political comeback in presidential elections due in October next year.

    The verdict also sent a dramatic message to much of Brazil's political class that they, too, risked falling afoul of the anti-graft drive.

    Even the current president, Michel Temer, has been charged with taking bribes and several of his ministers have resigned after corruption claims were made.

    The sea change has come about because of Operation "Car Wash," a sweeping probe looking into a giant embezzlement and kickbacks scheme involving state-owned oil group Petrobras, construction firms and several political parties -- Lula's Workers' Party chief among them.

    - Lula denies charges -

    But while many Brazilians welcome the long-overdue clean-up, the uncertainty is hobbling their country's struggle to exit from a historic recession.

    The verdict against Lula "all but rules him out of the running for next year's presidential election," said Capital Economics, an economic analysis firm.

    It said the court's decision was "likely to give a near-term boost to Brazilian markets" as the likelihood waned of Lula, a former union leader, returning to power and quashing needed economic reforms championed by Temer.

    Lula has repeatedly denied taking any bribes during or after his presidency.

    He has described the investigation against him as a campaign to prevent his return to power.

    The Workers' Party called Lula's conviction and sentence "an attack on democracy" and Brazil's constitution, accusing the judge of bias.

    Lula was "serene" upon receiving the news, though he felt "a natural indignation, like anyone convicted without proof," said one of his lawyers, Cristiano Zanin Martins.

    Another lawyer, Valeska Zanin Martins, added: "They want to leave Lula out of the presidential race, and Lula leads the polls."

    The conviction focused on allegations that Lula received the triplex apartment and cash as bribes from one of Brazil's biggest construction companies, OAS.

    The judge ordered that the apartment be confiscated.

    "Between the crimes of corruption and money laundering, there are sufficient grounds for sentences totaling nine years and six months of incarceration," Moro said in his verdict.

    - Political fallout -

    The sentence by Moro -- whose wide popularity in Brazil for his anti-corruption work has prompted some to see him as a possible presidential candidate -- fed into broader political ructions in Brazil.

    Lula's chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and booted from office last year, with Temer, her vice president, taking over.

    Two weeks ago, Moro sentenced an influential minister in the Lula and Rousseff governments, Antonio Palocci, to 12 years in prison for corruption.

    Palocci played a central role in the "Car Wash" scheme, most of which unfolded when Lula's Workers' Party was in power from 2003 to 2016.

    Prosecutors said Palocci was a pointman in the flow of "bribes between the Odebrecht construction group and intermediaries of the Workers' Party," laundering more than $10 million used for party campaign finances.

    Odebrecht, an industrial conglomerate with projects around the world, named Palocci "the Italian" in its list of code names for politicians regularly taking bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts with Petrobras and other favors.

    The apartment bribe is one of five corruption cases stacked against Lula.

    Others include allegations that Odebrecht gave $3.7 million to Lula so he could buy land to build the Lula Institution highlighting his political legacy, and that he received a kickback in Brazil's purchase of Swedish warplanes.

    What to Read Next

    • Bolsonaro defends later, partial release of Brazil COVID-19 data

      Reuters
    • Coronavirus disrupts global fight to save endangered species

      Associated Press
    • Coronavirus live updates: Fears raised about distancing at George Floyd protests

      NBC News
    • Brazil court bans raids in Rio favelas during pandemic

      AFP
    • Brazil threatens to quit WHO, Trump says US beating pandemic

      AFP
    • Buffalo Cops Who Knocked Peaceful Protester To The Ground Charged With Assault

      HuffPost
    • If You're Joining a Black Lives Matter Protest as an Ally, Here Are Dos and Don'ts

      PopSugar
    • Buffalo police officers arrested after shoving 75-year-old protester

      Good Morning America
    • Officers Charged in George Floyd's Death Not Likely to Present United Front

      The New York Times
    • Floyd protests and Trump's response gave Washington a week it won't soon forget

      Yahoo News
    • Facebook removes almost 200 accounts tied to hate groups

      Yahoo News Video
    • How messaging technology is helping to fuel global protests

      Associated Press
    • Trump Tweet Gets Personal Fact-Check From Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey

      HuffPost
    • Trump Erupts After Attack Target Lisa Page Joins MSNBC As National Security Analyst

      HuffPost
    • The stranger-than-fiction tale of Circus of Books: How a straight, married, suburban couple became accidental gay porn pioneers

      Yahoo Music
    • 'Stay mad as hell,' says last surviving author of famous report on 1967 riots

      Yahoo News
    • Tropical Storm Cristobal aims at Gulf Coast

      Yahoo News Video
    • Cuomo: "We have a moment here where we can make change"

      CBS News
    • How a 'rogue' employee forced NFL, Goodell into new Black Lives Matter stance

      Yahoo Sports
    • Buffalo cops resign from unit in protest after two of their own are suspended for injuring 75-year-old

      USA TODAY
    • Do You Use Google Chrome’s Incognito Mode? You May Be Eligible for $5K

      The National Interest
    • New arms race taking shape amid a pandemic and economic crisis. What could go wrong?

      Yahoo News
    • New arms race taking shape amid a pandemic and economic crisis

      Yahoo News Video
    • Massive crowd expected in Washington, DC, Saturday for protests over George Floyd's death

      USA TODAY
    • Yahoo News Network
    • Help
    • Privacy (Updated)
    • Privacy dashboard
    • Suggestions
    • About our Ads
    • Terms (Updated)
    • Sitemap