Corruption: Brazil ex-President, Lula da Silva’s accounts frozen

Corruption: Brazil ex-President, Lula da Silva’s accounts frozen

Brazil’s central bank has frozen four bank accounts belonging to ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva due to his recent conviction on corruption charges.

The assets in question amount to more than 600,000 Brazilian reals ($190,000), according to the office of Sergio Moro, who last week sentenced Silva to nine and a half years in prison in connection with a sprawling graft probe involving state-run oil giant Petrobras.

Moro also barred the ex-president from using three apartments, a piece of land and two cars linked to him. None can be sold until there is a final ruling on the case.

In a statement, Silva’s defence denied any wrongdoing and called the decision illegal and abusive. The former president — who is commonly known as Lula — remains free pending an appeal.

“This decision makes all Lula’s assets and values unavailable to him, which hampers his and his family’s ability to live. It is yet another arbitrary decision among many others committed by the same judge against former president Lula,” his lawyers Cristiano Zanin and Zuleika Martins said.

His defence has repeatedly called the graft conviction politically motivated and a plot to sideline Silva, a front-runner for next year’s presidential election according to recent polls.

Moro said in his ruling that he requested the freezing of up to 10 million Brazilian reals, but the bank said it only found what was in the four accounts. The judge said the measure was necessary “for the reparation of damages that originated in the crimes.”

“It was not possible to trace the rest of the bribes paid in connection with the corruption at Petrobras,” Moro wrote. “It is possible it has been used to illegally finance electoral campaigns.”

Last week the judge also seized a beachfront apartment in the city of Guaruja, Sao Paulo state, that is the centrepiece of the corruption and money laundering case against Silva. The apartment is valued at about 2.2 million Brazilian reals ($700,000), according to investigators.

Moro, who is hailed as an anti-corruption hero by supporters and loathed as a zealot by detractors, said construction company OAS promised to give the apartment to Silva as a bribe for three contracts with Petrobras.

Silva says the apartment was never his and he and his wife only visited once before declining to buy it. (NAN)