Brasilia: Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who rose from childhood poverty to become a two-term president, was convicted on corruption charges on Wednesday in the first of five corruption trials he faces. More From Livemint »The ruling marked a stunning fall for Lula, Brazil’s first working-class president who left office six years ago with an 83% approval rating. The former union leader won global admiration for transformative social policies that helped reduce stinging inequality in Latin America’s biggest country. Former US President Barack Obama once labelled him the most popular politician on earth. Judge Sergio Moro found Lula guilty of accepting 3.7 million reais ($1.2 million) worth of bribes from engineering firm OAS SA, the amount prosecutors said the company spent refurbishing a beach apartment for Lula in return for his help winning contracts with state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro.

Source: Mint July 12, 2017 17:37 UTC