Brazilian Police File New Corruption Charges Against Ex-President Lula da Silva

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) — According to the police, Lula da Silva could have received a plot of land from the construction company Odebracht, where an institute named after him was built and moreover, the company allegedly paid his apartment rent, Globo broadcaster reported on Monday.

In August, Lula da Silva was accused of owning a luxury, three-floor apartment in Brazilian town of Guaruja built by a construction company involved in the Petrobras scandal, which implicates Brazil's top officials including former head of Petrobras and impeached President Dilma Rousseff from Lula's Worker's Party. The police alleged that Lula had received over $700,000 from the OAS construction company, which built his Guaruja apartment.

In 2014, the police uncovered a huge corruption scheme at the Brazilian oil company Petrobras, revealing that businesses paid more than $2 billion in bribes to sign contracts with the oil company and obtain projects which later increased in cost.

Odebrecht, the biggest construction company in Latin America, is also suspected of being involved in the Petrobras corruption scheme. Earlier this month, the company agreed to cooperate with the investigation and paid $1.9 billion fine.

Earlier this year, Lula da Silva said that he was weighing the possibility of seeking to return to Brazil's highest office in the 2018 elections. A poll suggested in October that Lula da Silva would be the most likely candidate to win the 2018 presidential election.