Brazil's federal police files criminal charges on ex-minister of Lula's cabinet

This Monday (Oct. 24), the federal police sent documents filing criminal charges against Antonio Palocci, former finance minister under Lula's administration, with passive corruption. Palocci, who was also chief of staff under Dilma Rousseff's government, was arrested during the 35th stage of Operation Car Wash, launched last month.

According to investigations, the Odebrecht construction company transferred $40 million to a bank account allegedly managed by the former minister. In the document, the federal police also noted that Marcelo Odebrecht, ex-CEO at Odebrecht, "kept regular contact with Antonio Palocci Filho from 2003 to 2015, holding personal meetings at the headquarters of Odebrecht and of the Projeto Consultoria consulting company, as well as at Palocci Filho's residential address."

In the same document, the federal police also filed charges against Palocci's former adviser Branislav Kontic, onetime Cabinet Secretary Juscelino Dourado, adman João Santana and his wife, Monica Moura, and also businessman Marcelo Odebrecht.

The order also cites two spreadsheet found during searches that show that Odebrecht had a "bank account for bribes" with the Workers' Party, managed by Palocci. The document also points out that Odebrecht papers refer to Palocci as the "Italian".

According to the federal police, the former minister benefited Odebrecht at different times and mentioned cases like hiring drilling probes for Petrobras pre-salt exploration, helping approve tax measures, and there is also the possibility of former minister "interference to benefit Odebrecht by increasing lines of credit to Angola by the BNDES, which funded the company to export services to that country."

Lula

The paper also cites former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, mentioning analysis of the spreadsheet found. According to the federal police, during the analysis of one of them, they have identified a bank account managed by the former minister, including the payment of $2.5 million made to someone referred to as "Friend".

But Chief of Police Felipe Pace, in charge of Palocci's investigation case, reported in the document that probes into "the criminal responsibility of the former president" are not being carried out by his group of investigation. Lula's case will be probed by Chief of Police Márcio Anselmo, who is already investigating the former president.

In a statement, Lula's defense said the Car Wash investigators are basing their work on assumptions to prosecute him.

"The Car Wash has not presented any evidence that could substantiate the charges against former President Lula. They are, therefore, without exception, frivolous accusations, typical of lawfare, ie, the manipulation of law and legal procedures for political repression. Due to the lack of evidence, they use their 'belief' and 'guessing,'" said his lawyers.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta