Brazil weighs investigating ex-leader Silva
Brazil weighs investigating ex-leader Silva
By BRAD BROOKS, Associated Press | May 4, 2015 | Updated: May 4, 2015 5:58pm
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Brazil confirmed Monday that they are weighing whether to open a full investigation into former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's alleged overseas lobbying efforts for the scandal-plagued construction firm Odebrecht, the nation's biggest builder.
In an emailed statement, the federal prosecutors' office said it has 90 days to decide whether to begin a full inquiry into whether Silva engaged in "influence peddling" by allegedly swaying foreign leaders to award inflated billion-dollar contracts to Odebrecht, and by pushing Brazil's state development bank to give the company well over $1 billion in low-interest loans since 2011, after he left office.
Such a crime could carry a sentence of up to five years in jail.
The prosecutor's look into Silva was first published by news magazine Epoca over the weekend. The magazine reported that Silva's efforts focused on projects in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ghana and Venezuela, where Odebrecht has won big contracts for a variety of work, such as the Mariel port revitalization in Cuba.
. . .
However, Eurasia wrote that "we have a hard time viewing this recent twist as a real game-changer. The notion of 'influence peddling' is vague, particularly since Lula was a private citizen during the period in question."
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Brazil-weighs-investigating-ex-leader-Silva-6241719.php
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Epoca is owned by the Globo Group, which is hard-right in Brazil, as illustrated here:
Brazil's Globo group apologizes for backing military government
September 04, 2013|By Vincent Bevins
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Globo, the media group that dominates Brazil’s market and has become a target of the widespread protests in the country, has apologized for supporting the military dictatorship that took over almost 50 years ago.
The editorial published in Saturday’s edition of Globo's Rio de Janeiro-based newspaper took the country by surprise and leading some in rival outlets to wonder what Latin America’s largest media group had accomplished with the move. It may do little to win over protesters who view Globo as a much too powerful defender of the Brazilian elite’s conservative values.
“The truth is tough. Globo supported the dictatorship,” the editorial said. “The wave of protests on the streets ... gave us even more certainty in our internal evaluation that it was necessary to recognize this error.”
The mea culpa seemed well-timed. Hundreds of protesters taking part in an event Friday called the Grand Action Against Media Monopoly stormed Globo’s Sao Paulo offices, with some hurling excrement onto its walls.
More:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/04/world/la-fg-wn-brazil-globo-network-military-20130904
The right is scared to death Lula will be ready to run again for the Presidency.