Porto Alegre (Brazil), Jan 25: Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is charging ahead with his plans to run for Brazil’s presidency again, even after an appeals court unanimously upheld a graft conviction against him and added years to his prison sentence.Da Silva, who was wildly popular as president in 2003- 2010 and has been leading the polls for October’s presidential election, was defiant in the face of yesterday’s court ruling. The case alleged that while president, da Silva traded favors in return for the promise of a beachfront apartment. It is just one of a series of graft allegations against him amid a mushrooming corruption scandal that has taken down top politicians and business executives in Latin America’s largest nation. “I am not worried about whether I will be a candidate for president or not,” da Silva told a crowd of supporters in Sao Paulo last night.
AFP
