Ex-Brazil president helped Odebrecht inflate costs in Panama – prosecutor

BRAZIL’S former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) is being investigated for influence peddling to benefit the Odebrecht construction company, involved in the Petrobras corruption scandal.

” Under investigation is a possible trafficking of influence of former President Lula with leaders of other countries in favor of the construction company Odebrecht,” said a press officer of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Brasilia on Thursday June 16.
Lula is being investigated for allegedly influenced the State National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), having completed his mandate, to grant credit to Odebrecht for the financing of works in other Latin American and African countries in which it operates including Panama.
An official of the federal prosecutor’s office reported that it has gathered enough evidence to order a full investigation of lobbying efforts made by Lula da Silva abroad for Brazil’s largest construction company in Brazil.
The official said that the intercession of Lula da Silva after concluding his post helped Odebrecht helped to win billion dollars of contracts and inflate costs in infrastructure projects in Panama and Venezuela, and there are “strong indications” that the president also helped the company to win contracts in other countries.
The Lula Institute, based in Sao Paulo, said the former president denies having done wrong and that the investigation took him by surprise.