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Brazil's Lula accused of bribery in contracts linked to Angola

Xinhua, October 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's federal police accused former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), on Wednesday of favoring major construction company, Odebrecht, in the signing contracts with his nephew's company, Exergia.

According to a police report, the contracts which Odebrecht and Exergia signed for projects in Angola involved up to 20 million reais (6.25 million U.S. dollars) in bribes.

Investigators reached the conclusion that the contracts signed with Exergia only happened because one of its owners, Taiguara Rodrigues, is Lula's nephew.

Rodrigues and seven executives were arrested for corruption and money laundering in May.

However, Lula's defense team has said that the former president denies irregularities in his accounts linked to these contracts and complained that they had not had access to investigation documents.

These new accusations join others filed by the taskforce investigating the Petrobras corruption ring. On Sept. 20, Lula and his wife were charged with passive corruption and money laundering, linked to the illicit ownership of two properties. Enditem