Tag: Lula da Silva

• Friday, May 12th 2017 - 09:15 UTC

  Brazilian public opinion remains deeply divided on Lula: strong support but also highest rejection rate

  

  Ex Brazilian President Lula da Silva's combative testimony before a federal judge this week did little to dismantle the graft case against him and improve his chances of securing a new term in office. Lula, a founder of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that controlled Brazil's presidency from 2003 until last year, can only run in next year's presidential election if he avoids a conviction that is upheld on appeal.

• Thursday, May 11th 2017 - 11:29 UTC

  Lula was questioned for five hours and later called the corruption case “a farce”

  

  Brazil's former president Lula da Silva called the corruption trial threatening to end his storied career a “farce” during almost five hours of testimony on Wednesday. Lula is accused of receiving a seaside apartment as a kickback from the OAS construction company, and if found guilty could be barred from running for office and even jailed, destroying his hopes of coming back to power in the 2018 presidential elections.

• Wednesday, May 10th 2017 - 06:12 UTC

  Pivotal moment for Brazil: Lula and Judge Moro meet for the first time in a courtroom

  

  When Brazil's former President Lula da Silva and Judge Sergio Moro meet for the first time in a courtroom on Wednesday, contrasts and stakes could hardly be greater. One is the country's most popular president ever and the front-runner in next year's election - a former union leader who still whips up crowds with his fiery and folksy oratory.

• Tuesday, May 9th 2017 - 07:17 UTC

  Lula's five hurdles before he can ensure a comeback in the 2018 election

  

  Lula da Silva, Brazil's hugely influential leftist president between 2003-2010, faces no fewer than five court cases, each of which could thwart his dream of a comeback in 2018. On Wednesday he is due to appear before Brazil's top anti-corruption judge, Sergio Moro, to face charges that he was given a luxury apartment as a bribe.

• Sunday, April 30th 2017 - 09:02 UTC

  Unasur to be purged of its “ideological bias”, anticipates Paraguay

  

  Paraguay has stated it is time to put an end to the “ideological bias” of the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, and recover its integration profile which was the main purpose of its creation. A foreign ministers summit of the region will address and advance the issue.

• Monday, April 17th 2017 - 14:18 UTC

  Odebrecht's state of the art Division of Structured Operations, better known as “bribe department”

  

  The Brazilian engineering group Odebrecht kept a secret communications system to discuss and arrange the payments of bribes. A detailed spreadsheet mapped out who got what, all veiled under a system of codenames, and overseeing it all, there was an entire department at Odebrecht whose only purpose was to ensure the graft ran smoothly.

• Wednesday, April 12th 2017 - 08:41 UTC

  Corruption quake in Brazil: Justice to investigate, 9 ministers, 24 senators, 39 deputies and 3 governors

  

  An institutional and political earthquake is shaking Brazil: the Supreme Court has opened corruption investigations into nine ministers, three governors, 24 senators, 39 members of the Lower House and other elected officials totaling at least 108 politicians, according to a report published on Tuesday by O Estado de Sao Paulo.

• Wednesday, March 15th 2017 - 08:04 UTC

  Lula da Silva denies all charges in court; “I have been a victim for three years”

  

  Brazil's former president has appeared in court to deny allegations he was part of a plot to obstruct a massive corruption probe by keeping a former Petrobras executive from revealing what he knew. News media websites in Brazil published Tuesday's testimony by Lula da Silva, who told a federal court in Brasilia that he didn't even know Nestor Cervero, a former director of the State oil company.

• Friday, February 3rd 2017 - 09:36 UTC

  Brazil's ex first lady dies; Lula da Silva allows donations of her organs

  

  The wife of Brazil's embattled former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva died on Thursday, a week after she was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage, doctors in Sao Paulo said.“An absence of blood flow in the brain was identified,” doctors at the Sirio-Libanes hospital said, declaring Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva brain-dead.

• Thursday, February 2nd 2017 - 17:35 UTC

  Petrobras scandal reaches Chile: Bachelet denies receiving any financial support

  

  Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday denied reports she received financial support for her 2013 campaign from a construction conglomerate that is involved in Brazil's huge Petrobras corruption scandal. Grupo OAS is among dozens of Brazilian companies that are embroiled in a kickback scheme that is the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil's history.