The Supreme Court of Brazil has given the green light this Tuesday to the initiation of a new criminal case against Fábio Luis Lula da Silva, son of the current president of the country, for alleged crimes of corruption and influence peddling.
The Supreme magistrate Flávio Dino has thus accepted a formal request from the Federal Police to delve into the activities of the businessman, popularly known as Lulinha, and clarify the suspicions of influence peddling, according to information from Brazilian media such as the newspaper "Folha" and the network O Globo.
This decision represents the third investigation opened against the son of the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The other two cases that are already being processed, under the responsibility of Judge André Mendonça, also revolve around alleged maneuvers of influence peddling linked to Lulinha.
On this occasion, the authorities are analyzing a possible intermediary role of the son of the Brazilian president for the benefit of the lobbyist Antônio Carlos Camilo Antunes and the businesswoman Roberta Luchsinger, a friend of Lulinha, within the framework of dealings and negotiations with the federal Administration.
At the same time, Judge Dino has also approved the investigation of possible leaks of classified information, following a request from Lula da Silva's defense. In a statement, the president has expressed that he has "total tranquility" regarding this new judicial front and has reiterated that the businessman "will demonstrate that he has no relationship whatsoever, either direct or indirect, with any type of irregularity."
"We have requested all responsible agencies to take strong measures against the repeated, selective, and criminal leaks. We have denounced the instrumentalization of sectors of the Federal Police in service of political and electoral interests, to the detriment of the impartiality and legality that must govern criminal processes," stated the lawyers Guilherme Santos and Marco Aurelio de Carvalho in their note.
Doubts about Lulinha's conduct began to gain strength last year, to the point that Lula himself publicly declared that if his son were involved in irregularities, he should be subjected to investigation. "No one will escape. If my son is involved in this, he will be investigated," affirmed the head of the Planalto at that time, as recalled by the aforementioned Brazilian newspaper.