Lula to face questions in Petrobras case

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may have "secured advantages for himself, for his party…or for his government by maintaining a base of political support sustained by illicit business" at Petrobras, investigators told the court.

The kickback scandal involved $2 billion (1.76 billion euros) paid in bribes to Petrobras executives with political connections during Lula's term as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2011. The executives are supposed to have handed over contracts to Brazil's top construction and engineering firms.

Lula's innocence unlikely

According to Brazilian law, the Supreme Court is the only authority that can try elected officials. Other suspects include political and corporate bosses and officials including the speaker of the lower house of Congress.

Investigators told the court that questioning Lula was necessary because the evidence gathered from officials in the scandal "reached the political and partisan nucleus of his government." The examiners quoted former Petrobras executive Roberto Costa, who had already admitted to being involved in the kickbacks. When asked whether Lula or the current president, Dilma Rousseff, knew about the graft, Costa said it was "very unlikely" they didn't.

No formal charges against Lula as yet

Prosecutors are also investigating another corruption accusation against Lula, according to which he allegedly used his overseas connections to benefit Odebrecht SA, Latin America's largest engineering company. Odebrecht's CEO is presently under arrest in the Petrobras scandal.

However, none of the accusations have ever led to charges against Lula. His lawyers have instead slapped lawsuits against media organizations like Epoca, which first published the news on interrogating Lula on Friday and has been consistently reporting on the Petrobras scandal.

The investigators' request could push President Dilma Rousseff's government further into crisis. Rousseff was Lula's former energy minister and Petrobras' chairwoman for a lot of the time when the corruption scandal is believed to have taken place.

mg/kms (AP, Reuters)