Brasilia, August 21 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Lula Institute published a statement late Wednesday announcing a lawsuit made by former Brazilian President Lula da Silva against O Globo newspaper for moral damages.

The article, published by Brazil's leading daily last week, claimed Lula owned a luxury apartment in the Solaris building, in Sao Paulo, property of businessman Alberto Youssef, who is involved in the Petrobras scandal.

“The bad faith of the accused and their unequivocal aim to defame and injure the author (of the lawsuit, Lula) is patent … less than an hour and thirty minutes before the editorial closing time, the accused Germano Oliveira (reporter) sent an email to the Lula Institute requesting information to verify the facts,” explains the legal document.

As the statement published by the Lula Institute explains, the same story had been published last year by the same newspaper. At the time (December 2014), the former president made it clear that he had no apartment in the alleged building.

Early August, when new information linked Jose Dirceu – cabinet chief during Lula's government – with the Petrobras scandal, the newspaper issued an editorial calling for the arrest of the former president.
  
This is the second time in weeks that the former president has sued a media outlet for publishing false information linking him to the Petrobras scandal.

Late in July, the popular Veja magazine published a front page article claiming Lula and businessmen were linked to the Petrobras scandal and assuring – without providing any evidence – that the former president was largely benefiting from the corruption scheme.

Veja magazine issued a statement announcing it would back the editor of the story ahead of the trial. O Globo has not yet issued a statement responding to the lawsuit.