Brazilians protest as Lula ‘given post to shield him from charges’
PROTESTS gripped the Brazilian capital yesterday as former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as Dilma Rousseff ’s chief of staff in an apparent move to protect him from money laundering charges.
In a day of high political drama, Ms Rousseff had barely given her political mentor a post-ceremonial hug before a judge issued a ban on Mr Lula taking office. However, the government immediately appealed against the injunction and has promised to forge ahead regardless, with Ms Rousseff saying she would resist what she called a “putsch”.
The extraordinary developments came after leaked recordings of phone calls between Ms Rousseff and Mr Lula appeared to support widespread claims that the ex-leader’s appointment was designed to shield him from arrest.
Prosecutors sought Mr Lula’s arrest over a vast corruption scandal that is threatening to take down Ms Rousseff ’s government. The one-time icon of the Latin American Left faces charges of money laundering and concealing assets as part of the Lava Jato (“Car Wash”) investigation, which has uncovered a $2 billion bribery scheme within the state oil company Petrobras. As a government minister, he will have special privileges that mean he can only be tried by Brazil’s Supreme Court.
In the tapes which emerged on Wednesday, Ms Rousseff can be heard telling Mr Lula she will send over the papers for his appointment before the ceremony “in case of necessity”.
In a statement, a spokesman for the president said the ministerial paperwork had been sent to Mr Lula in advance in case he was unable to at- tend his swearing in. The government condemned the leak of the bugged phone calls as an “affront to the rights and guarantees of the presidency”.
Ms Rousseff has denied she is trying to protect Mr Lula, insisting she needs his help to pull her government out of crisis. Cristiano Zanin Martins, Mr Lula’s lawyer, said the release of the tapes was designed to provoke “social turmoil”, according to the website G1.
The leak came as Ms Rousseff faced the start of impeachment proceedings over alleged illegalities in the government budget. She has not been formally accused in the Car Wash investigation, but as chairman of the company for much of the period concerned she is thought to be in prosecutors’ sights. Yesterday, congress began selecting members to form a committee to analyse the impeachment petition.
At Mr Lula’s inauguration, Ms Rousseff lashed out at her opponents, accusing them of trying to topple her. Ms Rousseff said: “The putschists’ shouting won’t make me veer from my path or bring us to our knees.”
Jose Eduardo Cardozo, a government attorney, confirmed he had lodged an appeal against the judge’s ruling.