The fact that a court has approved the sale of a property they claimed belonged to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Atibaia municipality, Sao Paulo, as part of a payment for alleged political favors, refutes the accusations against the Brazilian ex-president.
The Federal Public Ministry approved the sale request made by entrepreneur Fernando Bittar, the actual owner of the property. The action strengthens the arguments submitted by the lawyers of the former president, who argued that he has no relation with that house, contrary to what the attorneys of the Operation Lava Jato alleged.
The website Brasil 247 reports that the process against Lula, “without evidence and without crime, has resulted in a legal anomaly.”
Lula was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison amid a trial, which could only be called a political farce, for corruption and money laundering. The process is now in the hands of Brazil’s 4th Federal Regional Tribunal of the fourth region for a re-trial.
Brazil 247 went on to report that the sentence ruled by Judge Gabriela Hardt, was a “disconnected sentence because it was a literal copy and paste of charges” filed about an apartment in Guaruja municipality, also in Sao Paulo, with entire incoherent excerpts of the ruling issued by the questionable judge Sergio Moro.
During the trial, Lula never denied that he visited the property owned by friends, who invited him to go there as they were entitled to do so as owners.
The prosecuting attorneys alleged that the ex-president was the official owner and that he had received favorable repairs carried out by the Odebrecht conglomerate at the site. The anomaly in the sentence is precisely that Lula is not the owner of the site but Bittar is which is why the Federal Public Ministry is accepting the sale request. Clearly, the ex-president is not the recipient of any favors in this case.
The request made by Bittar reads that he is “frequenting the place, being interested in its immediate selling” and he claims “a legal appraisal is being done.”
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau.