Ex-President Lula charged with money laundering

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for money laundering. The allegations also target executive Rodolgo Giannetti Geo, who runs the ARG business group, accused of influence peddling.

According to prosecutors in Operation Car Wash, Lula pocketed some $260 thousand from the entrepreneur in the form of a donation to his Lula Institute in exchange for moves benefiting Equatorial Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang in favor of the Brazilian group.

The charges are based on e-mails exchanged by Miguel Jorge, onetime development minister under Lula, and Lula Institute Director Clara Ant, in addition to Giannetti Geo.

Messages

In an e-mail dated October 5, 2011, Miguel Jorge wrote to Clara Ant saying that Lula was interested in talking to Geo about enterprises in Equatorial Guinea and that the businessman was willing to make “a very important financial contribution.” The executive is alleged to have later on carried letters between Lula and Obiang—who has ruled the country since 1979.

Ex president Lula da Silva - José Cruz/Agência Brasil

In a message sent by Lula in May 2012, ARG is mentioned as a “company that has been familiar with Equatorial Guinea since 2007 and stood out in the field of road construction.” In the same text, the ex-president said he believed the African country would join the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). According to the prosecutors, Obiang had asked Lula to talk to then President Dilma Rousseff in a bid to facilitate Guinea’s admission to CPLP.

In June 2016, ARG made a donation of $260 thousand to Lula Institute. According to the prosecution, it was the amount paid to Lula in exchange for his influence in obtaining advantages for the business group. Since Lula is over 70 years old, the crime of influence peddling was barred by the statute of limitations. However, the donation is described by the prosecution as a way to conceive the illicit nature of the transaction, which is therefore described as money laundering.

Defense

Lula’s counsel Cristiano Zanin Martins referred to the charges as the “continuation of political persecution.” No evidence shows that Lula committed any wrongdoing, he argued.

“The accusation was based on rhetoric, with no support in any specific conduct of former President Lula, who has not been given a chance to provide any testimony about the allegation before the show put on yet again as part of an initiative by the Prosecution Service—annihilating constitutional guarantees of the presumption of innocence the due legal process,” his statement reads.

Martins went on to say he expects the charges to be rejected.