Bolsonaro and Lula's lawyers in Brazil investigated for alleged fraud

Judicial labyrinths for the lawyers of Lula and Bolsonaro. The Brazilian authorities have opened this Wednesday an operation related to alleged fraud in which the lawyers of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and former president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva have participated, as announced by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. a statement that the ‘Schema’ operation has started with 50 searches and seizures in various directions, including law firms and other companies allegedly involved in the embezzlement of 355 million reais (about 56.7 million euros) between 2012 and 2018 In Rio de Janeiro, among those investigated are Frederick Wassef, who has represented Bolsonaro and his son Flavio, as well as Cristiano Zanin, who has been Lula da Silva’s lawyer in several of the legal proceedings against him since he left office. The ‘Lava Jato’ prosecutors have indicated that the funds received by the investigated firms “were contemporaneous with the acquisition of vehicles and luxury properties in the country and abroad, directly detrimental to the quality of life ”(…) in the state of Rio de Janeiro.” The Prosecutor’s Office has stressed that “it ensures absolute respect for legal activity, essential for the jurisdictional function “and added that” it is not criminalizing, but charging crimes against people who have abused their professional status. “The Brazilian media operation ‘Lava Jato’ (‘Lava Cars’, in Portuguese) has as its main corrupting agent the construction company Odebrecht, which supposedly would have on the payroll such relevant figures of Latin American politics as the former presidents of Brazil Lula da Silva (2003-2011) and Michel Temer (2016-2018); those from Peru, Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and his wife Nadine Heredia, and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. The corruption cases in which Odebrecht has woven its networks have ended the career of politicians and entrepreneurs. The case of the former Peruvian president Álan García (2006-2011) stands out, who chose to shoot himself in the head when he was going to be arrested.