Image courtesy: EPA
Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin has cleared former President and leftist icon Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of all corruption charges, in a case where he was convicted by a lower court following an investigation called the Operation Car Wash, reported BBC News.
In 2018, Silva, now 75, was sentenced to imprisonment for 12 years for allegedly receiving a beachside apartment from an engineering company implicated in the Operation Car Wash investigation. His sentence was eventually reduced to eight years and 10 months, as per BBC News.
This investigation centred on allegations that executives at a state oil company had accepted bribes from construction firms in return for giving them contracts at inflated prices. Luiz Lula’s Workers’ Party was accused of taking some of these funds to pay off politicians to buy their votes. But he had denied all corruption and bribery charges, alleging that they were politically motivated, aimed at preventing him from running for president again in 2018, reported BBC News.
His acquittal has reportedly restored his right to seek the presidency again, a decision that could change the political scene in Brazil. Political experts are almost certain that Luiz Inácio Lula will challenge Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election and as Thomas Traumann, a Rio de Janeiro-based political observer told The Guardian, “In American terms, it’s going to be like Sanders versus Trump.”
Who is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva?
Widely known as “Lula”, he has served as the president of Brazil for two terms, between 2003 and 2011 and had introduced schemes to combat poverty and uplift the working class all through his tenure. As he hoped to seek a third term in 2018, he was shadowed by alleged corruption charges, paving the way for Bolsonaro to take charge, as widely reported in the media.
After he started working as a metal worker in a factory, he got involved in politics, and by 1975, he was heading the metalworkers’ union, organising major strikes and protests against Brazil’s military rule, according to BBC News. He was also arrested for a month for this and shortly after his release, he facilitated the founding of Worker’s Party which was reportedly the first major socialist party in Brazil’s history.
In an interview to BBC News, former foreign minister, Celso Amorim had said that Lula’s legacy lies in lifting millions of Brazilians out of poverty. “Taking 30 to 40 million people out of poverty is fantastic. They (Brazilians) identify with Lula because he’s one of them, coming from poorer parts, then becoming a metal worker, and then all the way to the presidency, without departing from these origins”, he said.
Katy Watson, a South American correspondent told BBC News that politics like always, will remain polarised as Lula still wields immense popularity but is also seen as a symbol of corruption. During his term, his administration was accused of various corruption scandals with most aides who have been prosecuted on charges of bribery and fraud.
The incumbent President Bolsonaro on the other hand, has faced considerable criticism for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the falling economy. The NY Times reported that throughout Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, opposition parties have failed to come up with a strong candidate which likely leaves Lula to fight him in 2022.
But as reactions poured in, Bolsonaro has called the potential of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva running in 2022, “disastrous”. He told the NY Times “I think Brazilian people won’t want to have a candidate like him in 2022 and let’s not even think about his possible election.”
Related:
Rightist Bolsonaro takes office in Brazil, promising populist change to angry voters
Brazil and Canadian Unions promise their support to Indian farmers