Brasilia, September 2 (RHC)-- The defense team of former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has announced that the Federal Regional Court of the first region (TRF1) unanimously ruled that there are no elements that justify the continuation of the process due to the alleged participation of Lula in fraudulent contracts between Odebrecht and the National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES).

"This is the fifth lawsuit against Lula to be rejected outside the partial jurisdiction of Moro and Lava Jato," the lawyers warned, adding that "whenever he was tried by an impartial and independent body outside Lava Jato in Curitiba, Lula was either acquitted or the charge was summarily dismissed, in line with the defense we presented in favor of the former president.

The recent accusation was made by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) of the Federal District and indicated that the former Brazilian leader worked in partnership with BNDES "and other agencies in Brasília" in order to favor the construction company Odebrecht in loans for engineering works in Angola.

Lula's defense attorneys assured that the TRF1 approved the "habeas corpus" after considering that "the Federal Public Ministry made a precarious accusation, without any minimum evidentiary support and without specifying even the conduct attributed to Lula."

Meanwhile, the lawyers said that they hope that the Federal Supreme Court "will accept the two habeas corpus proceedings before that court" and that they will declare the nullity of the proceedings opened against Lula by Lava Jato of Curitiba "so that the former president may have the right to a fair and impartial trial also in relation to these cases.