Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Charged With Money Laundering and Corruption

Mauricio Savarese and Peter Prengaman / AP
Updated
He was called the "maximum commander" of a major graft scandal

(RIO DE JANEIRO)— 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.

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 companies involved in the kickback scheme emanating from Petrobras.

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.