Brazil has opened criminal proceedings against former leaders Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff for allegedly receiving bribes with money diverted from state-owned oil giant Petrobras. The Workers Party (PT) of the two ex-presidents has strongly denied the charges, calling them a “scandalous maneuver” with partisan motives.
In addition to Lula and Rousseff, the PT's current president and several former ministers are implicated. They are Joao Vaccari Neto and ministers Antonio Palocci and Guido Mantega.
Attorney General Rodrigo Janot filed a complaint last year alleging the accused conspired to form a criminal organization that received 1,480 million Reais (some US$ 390 million) of bribes in money diverted from the state.
His filing was accepted by the Federal Court on Friday, which asked the accused to present their defense within 15 days. If finally sentenced, the accused would have to spend three to eight years in jail.
They are the first criminal charges to be brought against Rousseff, who came to power in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014 before being impeached in 2016 for allegedly manipulating public accounts.
Lula is currently serving a 12-year-sentence for accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe during his 2003-10 presidency. He also has at least three other proceedings before the courts, pleading innocent to all the charges and denouncing them as political persecution.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesAs long as they + the other crooks are not FORCED to return the stolen wealth; this is just yet another FARCE!
Nov 24th, 2018 - 11:23 am +1http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RDWMX7bUpDI/Ru54n2ktc0I/AAAAAAAAAy4/oIdAEw96dic/s400/AUTO_myrria.jpg
@:o))
Nov 25th, 2018 - 03:49 am 0My heart bleeds for them, sniff, sniff....on the good side, they'll be able to hold hands again....very soon.
@JB
Nov 25th, 2018 - 12:32 pm 0From Bolsonaro nominates...
Re the doctors, it seems unlikely Brazil would want to give 3/4 of the pay to the Cuban government, or prevent them bringing their families, so that must have been something Cuba insisted on, and would object to changing. Also, B caring deeply about whether the doctors have their families with them seems a tad less likely than him wanting to stop giving money to Cuba, no?
what did I work against that upsets you ?
I just meant by voting for B, and the fact you seem to like him more each day. If I voted for Corbyn, who used to hang out with the IRA and PLO, and wants to hand the Falklands over to Argentina, would it bother you? People say his party will stop him doing anything too extreme...
what results are you talking of, in Brazil
I actually wasn't thinking specifically of Brazil, but more in general. The quota laws are the most obvious designed to help minorities (or the majority if the quota is for 'state school educated'). But I don't know any minority Brazilians to ask them what the various governments did and whether it helped. What I was thinking of was stuff like the abortion bill in Argentina. Macri was personally opposed, but allowed it to go ahead. For supporters that's a lot better than a president who agrees with you but does nothing.
Re the media, bias is to some extent in the eye of the beholder. When we looked at Krugman's article you thought it was biased, but I couldn't see any objective reason to think so. The Guardian is left-wing, what do you think of this?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/24/brazil-records-worst-annual-deforestation-for-a-decade
Also, it was you who told me about B's speech, and you had no problem with his plans so no reason to be biased. What did he say about using the A-T law?
And if B cancels all the government money spent on advertising then I don't have an objection. I understood he was planning to take money away specifically from media that criticised him.
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