BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva faced a new corruption charge on Tuesday for allegedly accepting 6 million reais ($1.9 million) in exchange for issuing a decree extending incentives for the automobile industry.
Federal Judge Vallisney de Sousa Oliveira accepted the charges of passive corruption from public prosecutors, who also named one of his former minister and five others for related crimes, according to court documents.
Lula stands accused in at least five cases of corruption and has been convicted in another which threatens to bar him from standing for office in next year’s election as planned.
A lawyer representing Lula said in a statement that he was innocent and the charges amounted to political persecution.
