Testimony begins in corruption case against Brazil’s Lula

SAO PAULO – Testimony began Monday in the first corruption trial to open against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who faces charges in a wide-ranging investigation that has ensnared many of Brazil’s political and business elite.

The broader investigation into kickbacks involving the state oil company Petrobras, construction companies and politicians has roiled Brazilian politics, surprising many for both the scale of the alleged corruption but also the determination of the judiciary to see it through.

Arrests of high-level politicians or businessmen have seemed to come every week, a sea change in a country where such crimes had long been met with impunity, said Sergio Praca, a political scientist at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas university in Rio de Janeiro.

“There were a dozen times when it could have stopped, but it didn’t,” he said, noting that the ground was laid during a smaller corruption prosecution at the beginning of the decade.

In the case before the court Monday, Silva, who was president 2003-10, faces charges of corruption and money laundering for allegedly accepting more than a million dollars in bribes from construction company OAS, which has been targeted in the Petrobras investigation.

The case centres on ownership of and renovations to a penthouse apartment in a coastal town that officially belongs to OAS, but prosecutors say is really owned by Silva.

Judge Sergio Moro heard from a former senator and three businessmen, all of whom testified Monday under plea bargain deals. As each took the stand, Moro swore the witness in and reminded him that he would lose his deal if he did not tell the truth.

Silva has vociferously denied the allegations, in this case and two others in which he faces charges.

A conviction now seems quite possible, Praca said. That would be a remarkable turn for Brazil, and it would pose a big problem for the Worker’s Party, which is holding out hope Silva will be able to be its presidential candidate in 2018 despite his current unpopularity.

Silva asserts that the prosecutions are politically motivated and last week his defence filed a complaint against Moro, alleging abuse of power.

Similar allegations have been hurled before, but Moro and prosecutors have forged ahead.

___

Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese contributed from Rio de Janeiro.