Brazil Central Bank freezes $190 thousand in Lula's account after ruling

Brazil's Central bank froze $192.5 thousand from former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's bank accounts Wednesday (Jul 19) following a court ruling issued by Sergio Moro, spearheading the probes under Operation Car Wash. The decision was made on July 14 but had been kept in secret until the funds were blocked.

The decision comes as compensation for damages to state-controlled oil giant Petrobras for which the former president was sentenced to nine years and a half in jail. Moro also ruled the confiscation of some of his property and vehicles because investigators believe that agents from Lula's Workers' Party (PT) pocketed $5 million in kickbacks. Of this amount, Moro says, “nearly $700 thousand were specifically meant for ex-President Lula, in the form of an apartment in Guarujá, without the payment of the correspondent amount, as well as renovation works in the apartment at the expense of [construction company] OAS.”

Moro also decided that the accounts and property belonging to Lula must be seized up to $5 million, which, according to the charges, were deposited as bribes in the bank account shared by the PT and OAS.

“It was not possible, therefore, to ascertain how much more was paid in bribes as a result of arrangements concerning a corruption scheme at Petrobras. More may have been used to illicitly fund electoral campaigns and as a result is no longer traceable,” Moro explained.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira