Tapes hint at aid for former Brazilian president in legal woes

Tapped phone calls between former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and prominent public figures suggest attempts were made to curry favour for the former leader in his judicial woes, according to the magistrate in charge of the corruption investigation at Brazil’s state-run Petrobras oil firm.

Judge Sergio Moro released nearly 50 recordings, hours after current president Dilma Rousseff appointed Mr Silva as her chief of staff — a move that critics called an attempt to help shield him from potential detention as part of the corruption probe.

In his filing, Mr Moro justified the release by saying democracies “demand that the people know what their officials are doing, even when they attempt to act under the cover of shadow”.