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By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 27 – The lawsuits of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva worsened on Monday, while the Sao Paulo prosecutor's office accused him of money laundering as part of his relations with Guinea Equatorial.
"Lula has used its international prestige to influence the decisions made by the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang (Nguema), for the benefit of the Brazilian group ARG in the African country," the prosecutor said in a statement.
In exchange, Lula reportedly received one million reais ($ 250,000) in bribes from September 2011 to July 2012 under the pretext of donations to her Lula Charitable Institute.
The alleged events occurred after his 2003-2010 presidency.
The Lula Institute rejected the accusations, saying that all "donations received … are legal, duly declared … and used for the activities of the institute, without any compensation".
According to the prosecutor, a cadre of the civil construction company ARG "asked the former president to play the role of intermediary" with Obiang to facilitate the company's commercial relations in Equatorial Guinea, including the construction of roads .
Lula is already serving a 12-year sentence of corruption for accepting a beachfront apartment as a bribe from another Brazilian company, BTP, in exchange for public works contracts.
Aged 73, he is currently the subject of five other investigations into cases of corruption and money laundering, but insists that he is innocent of all charges.
On Friday, he and his successor in the presidency, Dilma Rousseff, a member of the Labor Party, were accused of receiving bribes with money diverted from the oil giant Petrobras.
They have been accused of conspiring to form a de facto criminal organization.
Lula's lawyers called the charges "unprecedented political persecution".
Obiang, 76, has been accused of brutal repression of his opponents as well as electoral fraud and corruption.
He took power from his uncle at a military coup in 1979 and has been leading the country since then.
In 2016, he won a fifth presidential term of seven years with nearly 94% of the vote.
Equatorial Guinea has become one of the largest oil producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but a large part of its 1.2 million people live in poverty.
Two months ago, the Brazilian police seized more than $ 16 million in cash and luxury goods from a delegation accompanying Obiang's son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, as he arrived. in Brazil to submit to a medical procedure.
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