Brazil corruption: Ex-President Lula rejects 'prosecutors' lies'

A criminal conviction would bar Lula from running for president in 2018

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that he and his Workers' Party are victims of a sustained campaign by the country's establishment.

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed charges against Lula and his wife, Marisa Leticia, over an alleged corruption scheme at state oil company Petrobras.

In his first public comments, Lula accused prosecutors of lying.

He said the charges were aimed at destroying his political ambitions.

He said his case, and the unrelated campaign against his successor as president, Dilma Rousseff, were a conspiracy.

Ms Rousseff was dismissed by the Senate last month after an impeachment trial that found her guilty of manipulating the budget.

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Lula said the Brazilian elite had never accepted him, or his party's social reforms.

"What has raised all that hatred against the Workers' Party was the success of our government, the biggest policy of social inclusion in the history of this country," Lula said at a Workers' Party event.

"Prove anything against me and I will walk all the way to hand myself in and be arrested," he added.

"No one is above the law in Brazil. Do investigate me and punish me if I have broken the law. But be honest and respect my family," said Lula.

A former factory worker, Lula broke down in tears when he spoke about his humble origins.

Lula, 70, served as president from 2003 to 2010.

But during his hour-long speech, Lula also joked that the prosecutors looked like the authors of a bad soap opera, searching desperately for a villain in their closing episode.

Prosecutor Dallagnol said the Petrobras scheme helped keep the Workers' Party in power

At a press conference on Wednesday, prosecutors accused Lula of being the "boss" of a huge corruption scheme that cost Petrobras an estimated $12.6bn (£9.5bn) in losses.

Prosecutors had been investigating whether Lula and his wife, Marisa Leticia, failed to declare ownership of a luxury flat.

They said OAS, a construction company at the centre of the Petrobras affair, had bought and refurbished the property for Lula and his wife.

The company had earned lucrative contracts during Lula's years in office.

Earlier on Thursday, a Brazilian judge sentenced a businessman linked to Lula, Jose Carlos Bumlai, to nine years and 10 months in jail for corruption.

Mr Bumlai was arrested last year accused of taking a loan on behalf of the Workers' Party from a company that was promised contracts with Petrobras.