Brazil SC authorises probe of Lula’s son

A justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court (SC) has authorized a police investigation of a son of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday.

News of the probe into Fabio Luis Lula da Silva, known as “Lulinha,” comes three days before the leftist president is officially nominated as a candidate for reelection in October elections, where he will face Flavio Bolsonaro, son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is imprisoned for an attempted coup.

Justice Andre Mendonca authorized the investigation, the source said on condition of anonymity, without providing further details.

According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, police will investigate whether Lulinha helped a lobbyist in dealings with the Health Ministry over the marketing of medicinal cannabis.

The lobbyist is a businessman who has been imprisoned since last September and was identified as a key figure in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme targeting retirees and pensioners.

The scandal, which erupted in April last year, led to the dismissal of the social security minister and the president of the National Social Security Institute (INSS) in Lula’s government.

In February, a congressional committee authorized an investigation into Lulinha’s bank accounts on suspicion of having acted as a hidden partner in ventures allegedly financed with funds diverted from the scheme.

“Can you imagine if it were President Bolsonaro’s son suspected of receiving money from pensioners of the INSS? Do you have any doubt that they would all be in jail, removed from their positions?” Flavio Bolsonaro said in an online broadcast Thursday.

In an interview, Lula said his son would not get any preferential treatment.

“If my son is accused of something, he will receive the same treatment as any other son. He will not have privileges.

I would never ask a police officer or a judge not to do the right thing,” Lula told the podcast Inteligencia Ltda.

The 80-year-old leader is due to be officially named Sunday the ruling Workers’ Party candidate for the October presidential election.