Ex Brazilian president slapped with money laundering charges

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former Brazilian president has been slapped with money laundering charges after Sao Paulo state prosecutors led an investigation against him.

Spokesman for the state prosecutors declined to specify the charges, but state investigators said they suspect Lula’s family owned an undeclared luxury beachfront apartment in the city of Guaruja.

Federal investigators echoed those allegations after they detained Lula for questioning in police custody on Friday, fanning a political crisis that has rattled his successor, President Dilma Rousseff.

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Lula has denied any wrongdoing and rejected the idea that he owned the luxury condo in Guaruja built by engineering group OAS, one of the conglomerates snared in a vast corruption scandal tied to state-run oil company Petrobras.

In his response, Lula’s lawyer called the charges an attempt by prosecutor Cassio Roberto Conserino to smear the former president.
“Conserino turned two visits to an apartment in Guaruja into concealed ownership,” defence lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins said in a statement calling on the Supreme Court to decide if state or federal prosecutors had jurisdiction.

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