Brazil’s chief federal prosecutor on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to open investigation against former President Lula da Silva and dozens of other officials over corruption at state-owned oil giant, Petrobras.
The local media reports said that General Prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, requested authorisation to investigate Lula, an ally of embattled President Dilma Rousseff and 38 others, including members of her government.
It said that the Petrobras scandal had ensnared a wide swath of Brazil’s political and business elite, including the left-wing Workers Party of Lula and Rousseff.
It said that firms, including Brazil’s largest construction companies, were believed to have paid billions of dollars in bribes to obtain lucrative contracts with the monopoly oil firm.
However, ongoing investigation has led to dozens of arrests.
The move by Janot added to the political turmoil that has plagued Brazil as Rousseff faces a Senate vote on impeachment that could suspend her from office as early as May 11.
Meanwhile, his list of suspects was not limited to Rousseff’s allies.
Included in the investigation request is her nemesis, Eduardo Cunha, Speaker of Brazil’s Lower House of Deputies and architect of its vote on April 17 to open impeachment proceedings against her.
“Rousseff stands accused of hiding a huge budget deficit in an affair she has publicly called an attempted coup,’’ the report said.
It stated that while the president had not been implicated in the Petrobras scandal, she chaired the company’s supervisory board from 2003 to 2010, a time when some of the alleged graft was said to have occurred. (dpa/NAN)