Brazilian prosecutors demand Lula arrest over money laundering charges

Prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo requested Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva be arrested to allow for more time to investigate suspected charges of money laundering and bearing false witness.

In their demand, the prosecutors stated that "Lula's preventive arrest is indispensable" to prevent the former president from "mobilizing his violent support network to avoid that the criminal process takes its natural course."

They also called for the arrest of Lula's wife, Marisa Leticia, and his son, Lulinha, while asking for prison sentence for Jose Adelmario Pinheiro, former president of Brazilian construction company OAS , Leo Pinheiro, former governor of Bancoop bank, and Joao Vaccari Neto, former treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party.

The prosecutors accuse Lula of seeking to hide his ownership of a luxury apartment in Sao Paulo, by ensuring that the papers showed it belonged to OAS.

If the courts accept the request and issue an arrest warrant for Lula, he will face between four to 14 years in jail.

After the prosecutors demanded the arrest of Lula, the ex-president's foundation the Lula Institute said in a press release that the charges "had no basis in reality" and that "Lula cannot hide assets he does not have."

Lula was briefly detained for questioning on March 4 as part of an investigation into a corruption case involving the state-owned oil company Petrobras. Endi