Lula: They see crime in good things done for Brazil.

247 - Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva commented on the decision by Judge Vallisney de Sousa Oliveira of the 10th Federal Court of the Federal District, who accepted the complaint from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and made Lula a defendant for the seventh time, now for issuing a provisional measure that extended tax incentives to the automotive sector.

"The baseless and unsubstantiated accusation accepted today by the judge of the 10th Federal Court of Brasília is yet another example of the persecution against former President Lula, who this time will be judged for extending a regional development policy, created before his government, which made the Northeast, North, and Central-West regions responsible for 13% of jobs in the automotive industry and 10% of vehicle exports. They want to turn the good things Lula did for Brazil into a crime," said the former president's press office in a statement. 

Judge Vallisney Oliveira's decision was made on the same day that a CNT/MDA poll was released, placing former President Lula in first place, with 32%, in the preference of Brazilian voters for next year's presidential elections.read more).

Read below a report from Reuters about the new criminal case against Lula: 

Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva became a defendant for the seventh time on Tuesday, now in a case brought by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) of Brasília on charges of receiving 6 million reais in bribes to influence the drafting and enactment of a provisional measure that extended tax incentives to the automotive sector.

Judge Vallisney de Sousa Oliveira, of the 10th Federal Court of the Federal District, accepted charges against Lula, his former chief of staff and former minister Gilberto Carvalho for passive corruption.

The two were accused by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of improperly favoring car manufacturers in the drafting of a provisional measure. According to the investigations, the money offered by a group of lobbyists aimed to ensure the enactment of the regulation in the form advocated by the car manufacturers.

In the decision accepting the charges, the magistrate stated that the indictment describes the "plausibility" of the allegations of the facts considered criminal as foreseen in the police investigation, with "proof of the materiality and indications of authorship of the crime."

"Thus, in this preliminary assessment, I do not see any conclusive evidence capable of refuting the accusation, without prejudice to a detailed analysis, with possible counter-evidence, when summary acquittal may eventually occur, if that is the case," the judge highlighted in the decision.

Five other people have also been indicted in the case for the crimes of active and passive corruption.

This is the second indictment against Lula in Operation Zelotes. The former president had already been accused, along with one of his sons, of criminal organization, money laundering, and influence peddling in the Brazilian government's decision to purchase Gripen NG fighter jets, manufactured by the Swedish company Saab.

In a statement, lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins, who represents Lula, said that the acceptance of the new charges is more of an episode than what he claims is political persecution of the former president.

"The innocence of former President Lula should also be recognized in this process because he did not commit any wrongdoing," Zanin said in the statement.

"The former president never solicited, accepted, or received any money in exchange for official acts he performed or failed to perform while serving as President of the Republic."