Lula’s ‘loot’: not much to look at
Brazil’s
former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is facing plenty of pressure
these days over allegations he was directly involved in the country’s
biggest corruption case, the Mensalão.Now comes an expose of what are supposedly his properties.
Readers will recall that the one-time leaders of Lula’s Workers’ Party in 2003 and 2004 have been convicted of stealing funds from state-owned enterprises and using them to bribe opposition lawmakers to support the former president’s government in Congress.
Lula himself has always denied any knowledge of the scheme. But now there are growing calls for an investigation into allegations that some of the money from the Mensalão was directed to the former leader himself for his personal use. Again, he has denied the accusations, which came from a businessmen convicted in the case.
So readers will be fascinated to learn then that a hacker has published details of what are purported to be Lula’s assets – in the form of a list of addresses of properties supposedly owned by the politician. This from the Associated Press:
A hacker has posted what appears to be private information of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the Internet to protest a major corruption scandal which he says “will end in nothing.”But those expecting palatial residences in São Paulo’s elite neighbourhoods, beachfront condos in Copacabana or sprawling fazendas in the Brazilian Amazon will be disappointed. The properties revealed by the site, while not exactly a pauper’s empire, are definitely not those of your typical bling-covered sleazebag politician with a trophy wife on his arm.
The addresses of properties said to be owned by Silva, phone numbers, companies registered in his name and his taxpayer number were posted on Twitter. The hacker identified himself as nbdu1nder.
The trial surrounding a cash-for-votes corruption scheme saw 25 people convicted, including former top aides to Silva.
Silva’s office would not confirm the authenticity of the information posted on Twitter and said it had no comment.
The most respectable is Condominio Residencial Hill House, a normal-looking apartment building in São Bernardo do Campo, the suburb of São Paulo where the former president began his career as a trade unionist. He has one, possibly two apartments here, according to the hacker.
View Larger Map From here it goes rapidly downhill, apparently. Lula has another property in the same suburb, a shabby looking joint in a not very salubrious neighbourhood that is up for sale with graffiti covering the front fence.
View Larger Map Then there is a humble house in a town deep in the interior of the state of São Paulo that looks like it too badly needs a coat of paint.
View Larger Map Finally, there is the pièce de résistance, a house in an area of the northeastern city of Natal called Felipe Camarão, which roughly translates as Philip Shrimp. Judging by pictures taken from Google Maps photos, this is not a place you would want to wander at night, especially when a YouTube search throws up videos about homicides and other social problems.
View Larger Map Overall, the allegedly ill-begotten assets look like nothing more than those that someone with a normal salary and an inheritance or two thrown in might end up with after a lifetime of work. Think of the estate of your spendthrift old uncle Bob rather than Silvio Berlusconi. Either way, the hacker – who proudly declares “Live the Revolution” – has in fact done defenders of Lula’s cause more good than harm.
After all, if this humble collection was the best a corrupt politician in Brazil could muster, then surely most would stick with their day jobs.
Related reading:
Brazil’s goal: a clean sheet, FT
Brazilian justice: progressively more orderly, beyondbrics
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/01/11/lulas-loot-not-much-to-look-at/#axzz2Hj7tB3QJ
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