Report links Lula to Brazil corruption scandal

A businessman indicted in Brazil's major corruption trial claims he sent part of the money used to bribe lawmakers to ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a press report said Tuesday. Marco Valerio, who was sentenced to 40 years in jail for his role in the vote-buying scheme, told prosecutors he transferred $50,000 to then-president Lula in 2003 for his "personal expenses" through the bank account of a presidential aide, the Estado de Sao Paulo daily reported. Valerio is considered the mastermind of the ruling Workers Party's bribery scheme that ran from 2002 to 2005 during Lula's first term. His claims are contained in a deposition he made to prosecutors in late September after he was indicted. Valerio, who was seeking a plea-bargaining deal with judges for a reduced sentence, said he deposited the money for Lula on the bank account of a security firm belonging to Freud Godoy, a presidential aide, Estado said. In comments to Brazilian reporters in Paris during a trip with President Dilma Rousseff, Lula rejected Valerio's charges as "lies." Rousseff herself described as"deplorable" attempts to "tarnish the image" of her predecessor and mentor, who she said deserved credit for Brazil's development progress and more equitable prosperity. But Joaquim Barbosa, the Supreme Court's first black president and the most vocal critic of the congressional vote-buying scheme, said prosecutors ought to probe Valerio's claims. "I believe they should be investigated," the official Agencia Brasil quoted him as saying. Earlier, Lula's leftist Workers Party dismissed Valerio's allegations as "old lies" made in a "desperate attempt" to secure a lighter sentence. The prosecutor's office would not comment on the case. Twenty-five of 37 former ministers, lawmakers, businessmen and bankers were found guilty of corruption in their absence by the Supreme Court in the trial that began in early August and is expected to wrap up next year. They include three former Lula aides, ex-chief of staff Jose Dirceu, Jose Genoino, who headed Lula's ruling Workers' Party at the time, and party treasurer Delubio Soares. The scandal nearly cost Lula his re-election in 2006. But the 67-year-old founder and leader of the leftist PT was cleared and he has always maintained he was unaware of the scheme. Lula was easily re-elected in 2006 and handed over power to Rousseff at the end of his second four-year term. Estado also said Valerio told prosecutors that Lula had given him the "green light" to seek bank loans, which according to the Supreme Court, were diverted to bribe lawmakers. Valerio also reportedly said he met with Dirceu and Soares in 2003 at the presidential office. Dirceu was sentenced to 12 years in jail and Soares to six years. Dirceu's defense lawyer flatly rejected Valerio's charges.