Brazil's Lula da Silva in showdown with crusading 'Carwash' judge
The popular former leader faces jail if convicted of bribe-taking and influence trafficking in Operation Carwash scandal
Brazilia — Thousands of Brazilians have descended on the southern city of Curitiba for a showdown between one of the most popular leaders in the country’s history and its most famous judge at a hearing that could determine the republic’s future. Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has arrived there to testify on Wednesday afternoon before Sergio Moro, the lead jurist in the sprawling corruption probe known as Operation Carwash. If convicted of any of the charges against him, including bribe-taking and influence trafficking, the charismatic leftist who ended his second term with an approval rating of 80-plus% could end up in prison, dashing any possibility of a political comeback. What started three years ago as an investigation into a money-laundering scheme run out of a petrol station has blown up into a scandal that has tarnished Brazil’s political establishment and made Moro into a folk hero. The judge’s fans are pleading with him to run for president in 2018, with opinion...
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