[JURIST] Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva [BBC profile] appeared in Court on Wednesday and gave a four-hour deposition on the graft charges he faces. In the deposition, da Silva< a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-corruption-lula-idUSKBN186239">criticized the charges [Reuters report] as “illegitimate” and a “farce,” claiming that the Brazilian media wants to get him “dead or alive”. Three years ago, da Silva was charged with receiving $1.1 million in improvements and expenses from a construction company for a beachfront apartment in exchange [JURIST report] for kickbacks from the state-run oil company Petrobras, which has become known as the Petrobas Oil Scandal [NYT report]. Prosecutors in the case allege that businesses paid a total of over $2 billion [JURIST report], which they then exploited by running up costs and delaying completion. Despite da Silva’s repeated denial of any involvement, federal prosecutors say that da Silva allegedly funneled millions of dollars into the campaigns of those in the Workers Party. Da Silva has also been charged in four other corruption cases.

More than 100 individuals and 50 politicians have been arrested in connection to the Petrobras scandal, including the chief of staff under Brazil’s former President Jose Dirceu, former speaker of the house Eduardo Cunha [JURIST report], and the former president Fernando Collor de Mellon [Britannica profile]. In November of 2015, Brazil’s highest court ordered [JURIST report] the arrest of André Esteves, the chief executive of the country’s largest investment bank, and that of Delcídio do Amaral, a powerful senator of the country’s ruling party, both accused of bribery and corruption affiliated with Petrobras.