His new home is a roughly 15-metre square cell in the federal police headquarters in Curitiba, the southern city where the “Car Wash” probe...
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His new home is a roughly 15-metre square cell in the federal police headquarters in Curitiba, the southern city where the “Car Wash” probe is based.
Named after a service station where agents initially uncovered a relatively small money laundering operation, “Car Wash” has turned into one of the world’s biggest ever examples of such a probe, netting scores of top politicians, some of Brazil’s richest businessmen, and sending shock waves through Latin America.
Leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spent yesterday as Brazil’s first ex-president to be imprisoned for a common crime – and his cell was in the headquarters of the giant anti-graft probe that brought him down.
The first day of Lula’s 12-year sentence marked the downfall of once one of the world’s most popular politicians.
In South Korea, former President Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 24 years in jail after she was found guilty of abuse of power and coercion. The verdict was broadcast live and represents the culmination of a scandal which rocked the country, fuelling rage against political and business elites.
Park, who was also fined 18bn won (£12m, $17m), faced a string of corruption charges. The former leader was not in court on Friday for the verdict. She has boycotted her trial hearings and has previously accused the courts of being biased against her. She has also denied all wrongdoing and has said she will appeal against her sentence.
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| Former Brazilian President, Luiz da Silva |
Judge Kim Se-yoon said Park had shown "no sign of repentance" after causing "massive chaos" in the country. "We cannot help but sternly hold her accountable," the judge said.
South Korea's presidential residence, the Blue House, issued a statement after the verdict calling it a "heartbreaking event for the nation".
"A history that is not remembered is bound to be repeated," it read. The move by the authorities to allow Friday's verdict to be broadcast live was unprecedented, but they cited extraordinary public interest in the case.
The court ruled that she had colluded with her close friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure conglomerates such as electronics giant Samsung and retail chain Lotte to give millions of dollars to foundations run by Choi.
She was also convicted of forcing companies to sign lucrative deals with firms owned by Choi and donate gifts to Choi and her daughter. In addition, Park was found guilty of leaking confidential presidential documents to Choi.
A friendship lies at the heart of the undoing of South Korea's first female president. Park and Choi were childhood friends and Choi swiftly became the leader's most trusted confidante. But their relationship latterly came under intense public scrutiny and the charge is that Choi had undue influence over a nation's affairs through her connection with Park.
After a prolonged series of hearings and months of street protests calling for her resignation, Park was finally removed from office in March 2017, making her the first democratically-elected president to be impeached.
She was arrested shortly afterwards, and has been in detention ever since. Some of the biggest South Korean companies and their leaders have been drawn into the scandal, as well as numerous figures from the entertainment world and government servants.
Samsung's de facto leader Lee Jae-yong, also known as Jay Y Lee, was singled out in particular after details emerged that he had given a horse to Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra, who is an equestrian.
He was sentenced to jail, but only served five months before he was freed, when an appeals court reduced and suspended his sentence. Ms Chung has also faced scrutiny, and was extradited from Denmark to South Korea last year to face questioning.
Park, the country's first female leader, was also the first democratically-elected president to be impeached. But she is not the only former president to have been arrested for corruption.
Last month former leader Lee Myung-bak was charged with corruption over allegations he took bribes while in office. Two others, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, were convicted for treason and corruption in the 1990s.
In 2009, former president Roh Moo-hyun killed himself while he was under investigation for corruption. Park's sentencing has drawn a line under what has been one of the biggest corruption scandals to rock South Korea in recent years.
The scandal has created greater awareness and criticism of the longstanding close ties between the political elite and chaebols, or family-run conglomerates which dominate South Korea's economy.
It has also fuelled the rise of the liberal Moon Jae-in, Park's previous political opponent who eventually replaced her as president after campaigning on a platform of a clean government.
But South Koreans are divided on the verdict. Several hundred Park supporters gathered outside the court waving national flags during the ruling. Some sat in tears after the conviction, with others started a protest march.
"The rule of law in this country is dead today," said one pro-Park demonstrator.
Although Brazilian presidents of recent history have routinely ended up in trouble – impeached, brought down by a coup and even one suicide – Lula is the first to have been convicted of corruption and locked up.
Lula was found guilty last year of taking a luxury apartment as a bribe from a construction company and is “Car Wash’s” biggest scalp – though Lula says the conviction was rigged. The former two-term president arrived by police helicopter on the roof of the lock-up in Curitiba late on Saturday.
As the helicopter landed, demonstrators outside let off volleys of fireworks, while riot police fired teargas, filling the air with explosions and smoke. Eight people were lightly injured, including one hit by a rubber bullet, the fire department said.
It was a fittingly chaotic end to four days of intense tension as Brazil wondered whether the Workers’ Party founder would finally be put behind bars.
Lula, who despite the scandal leads easily in polls ahead of October presidential elections, tried to get his sentence delayed in a marathon appeal at the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Wednesday. When that was turned down, he engaged in a stand-off with authorities in his hometown of Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo.
Surrounded by thousands of supporters at the metalworkers’ union building in the suburb, he brazenly ignored an order to turn himself in by Friday. On Saturday, he agreed to be taken into custody, only to find himself blockaded by his own supporters, with a crowd mobbing his car, shouting “Don’t surrender, stay here Lula!”
At last, surrounded by bodyguards, Lula pushed through the seething throng of supporters on foot late on Saturday, then got into a police vehicle and was taken to Sao Paulo airport for the flight to Curitiba.
A jail cell with extremely good conditions by the standards of Brazil’s often violent, desperately overcrowded prisons – including a hot private shower and toilet – awaited him.
After his arrest, fireworks and cheering broke out in parts of Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and other cities among those who long considered Lula responsible for the tide of graft sweeping over Brazilian politics.
But supporters cried openly at the exit of a man they remember for removing tens of millions of people from poverty and for connecting with voters in a way few, if any, other modern Brazilian politicians have managed.
With Lula almost certainly knocked out of the presidential election, the race is likely to be thrown wide open. In polls, he currently scores more than double his nearest rivals. – BBC/AFP
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