Justice closes lawsuit accusing Lula and his son of money laundering and influence peddling | National newspaper

The criminal action filed by federal judge Diego Paes Moreira, of the 6th Federal Court of São Paulo, was based on the award-winning collaboration of Emílio Odebrecht and the former executive of the Alexandrino Alencar group.

In their testimonies, they stated that former President Lula had asked for financial help so that his son Luís Cláudio could start a business career. The help would have been through the financing of a sports marketing project to promote American football in Brazil.

In exchange, the complainants stated that Lula would help in the relationship between Marcelo Odebrecht, then president of the group, and president Dilma Rousseff.

In the decision on Wednesday (9) in which the investigation closes, Judge Diego Paes Moreira concluded that former President Lula did not commit a crime.

According to the judge, “in the specific case, the investigated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was no longer a public agent and the alleged request for an advantage did not stem from his status as a public agent.” In other words, “the supposed exchange of favors did not presuppose his presence or performance as President of the Republic.”

The judge stated that there are no indications of official acts performed by the public agent that would be the object of Lula’s influence.

The judge also stated that the employees did not indicate any specific act, such as signing contracts, bids, making payments or any other specific act that could qualify a conduct in the criminal type of influence peddling.

In the sentence, the judge also stressed that “if there is no typicity of the previous crime, therefore, there is no money laundering.”

In a note, the defense of the former president affirmed that the Federal Public Ministry of São Paulo recognized that there was no crime committed by Lula or his son, and that the federal judge still agreed with the MPF that “there is no evidence of the facts of the charge exercised by the public agent who would be the object of influence of the investigated person ”, also ruling out the possibility of the crime of influence peddling.

Former President Lula was convicted in the Superior Court of Justice for the Guarujá triplex case, where an appeal is pending, and in the second instance for the action at the Atibaia site. He continues to be charged in Paraná in the land case by the Lula Institute. Lula is also accused in the Federal Court of the Federal District in three criminal cases.