Brazil’s former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faced the country’s top anti-corruption judge yesterday in a trial that could doom his bid to return to power in 2018.
Lula, 71, was being grilled by judge Sergio Moro on charges that he received a bribe in the form of a seaside apartment near Sao Paulo.
He arrived at the courthouse in the southern city of Curitiba at 2pm (1700 GMT) for the hearing, which was barred to the public and media.
Security was exceptionally tight by Brazilian standards.
Several hundred riot police, watched by an officer on a rooftop, stood guard, keeping thousands of Lula supporters and even local residents away from the area.
Moro heads the “Car Wash” graft probe, that has revealed mammoth bribery and embezzlement in Brazil’s political establishment, and Lula is his biggest target yet.
A verdict is not expected for weeks, but if Lula is found guilty, and then loses an appeal, he would be barred from seeking office, likely including running for re-election in 2018. He could even face prison time.
A fiery orator who rose from shoeshine boy to union leader and founder of the Workers’ Party before leading Brazil from 2003-2010, Lula is a polarising figure in Latin America’s biggest country.
He leads opinion polls ahead of next year’s election, but inspires hatred among opponents fed up with corruption revelations and a devastating recession that began under Lula’s handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff.
Supporters, however, are equally passionate, citing the booming economy and historic social programs during his own presidency.
“I think he is innocent. If they had something concrete against him, there’s no doubt he’d have been arrested,” said Gerson Castellano, 50, who joined Workers’ Party supporters who bussed in to Curitiba.
“It’s a class struggle that’s going on.”
The “Car Wash” probe revealed that top politicians from both the left and right sold access to juicy contracts at state oil company Petrobras throughout most of Lula’s presidency.
Scores of senators and other powerful figures have been convicted or are under investigation.
In yesterday’s case, Lula is alleged to have taken a luxury seaside apartment near Sao Paulo as a bribe from the OAS construction company, which did lucrative business with Petrobras.
Prosecutors say they suspect he not only took bribes and sold influence, but amounted to a kingpin over the wider scheme.
Lula, who also faces four other corruption court cases, vigorously denies the charges, describing the onslaught as an attempt to destroy him and his leftist movement.
Against that backdrop, yesterday’s court hearing was seen as a political high noon between the veteran politician and the implacable, increasingly popular 44-year-old Moro.