BRAZIL
Mounting Offences
Brazil’s attorney general charged former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his successor Dilma Rousseff with running a “criminal organization” that collected some $450 million in bribes during their Workers’ Party’s nearly 14 years at the helm.
The charge marks the first time that Rousseff has been accused of partaking in the ubiquitous kickback schemes that have tarred all of Brazil’s major political parties, the New York Times reported. It also cast a pall over Lula’s bid to return to the presidency despite the recent conviction against him in the long-running corruption scandal involving the state-owned Petrobras oil company.
Though he faces 10 years in prison for his earlier conviction, Lula was wrapping up a 25-city campaign trip when the charges were unveiled. The populist leader appeared to be nonplussed to be facing another court case.
“I’ll say one thing: we’re going to govern this country again,” he said via Twitter. “And when I say we, it’s not me. It’s you.”
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