Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ends up in the eye of the storm for the Petrobras scandal, the state oil giant that has distributed over 2 billion dollars in bribes to Workers Party politicians. On Friday morning, the home and office of the former Brazilian president were raided by the police.
Subsequently Lula - who is not under arrest or detention, but is under investigation for money laundering, corruption and suspected concealment of assets - refused to go and testify, for which he was ordered to be accompanied to the federal police offices at Congonhas airport. Arrest warrant, however, for the right-hand man of the former president, Paulo Okamoto, current president of the Lula Institute.
"There is evidence that former president Lula received money from Petrobras' internal scheme," the investigators wrote in a note distributed to the press. According to the judicial police, at least 4,5 million reals (about one million and 100 euros) would have been laundered. Lula allegedly received a ranch and a beachfront apartment from some companies.
Ten other arrests and 32 searches were conducted overall in three states: Bahia and Rio de Janeiro as well as the Paulista one. Those under investigation also include his wife Marisa Letícia and their children Sandro Luis, Fabio Luis, Marcos Claudio and Luis Claudio, as well as others close to the Workers' Party.
At this point the investigation is also approaching the current president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who was president of the Board of Directors of Petrobras during the years of the scandal. An impeachment request had come against Roussef and the position of the current President had been clarified by a parliamentary commission, which however was composed for the majority of members of her party.
