Brazil: investigations and suspicions of corruption hover over the campaigns of Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro

As the elections approach, investigations are hovering over the campaigns of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his rival Flavio Bolsonaro, in a Brazil marked in the past by enormous corruption scandals.

Police are investigating suspicions of influence peddling targeting the eldest son of left-wing President Lula, nicknamed “Lulinha”. She is also investigating the financing of a film dedicated to former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, father of Flavio detained for attempted coup d'état.

Both candidates have already had run-ins with the law, but in very different ways. Lula, 80, spent more than a year and a half in prison in 2018-2019 for corruption as part of “Lavage-Express”, the biggest scandal in Brazilian history. His conviction was later overturned as the judge was considered biased.

As for Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, he was accused of having taken part of his assistants' salaries as part of a kickback system when he was a deputy in the Rio de Janeiro state assembly. The case was dismissed. Corruption appears in polls as one of the main concerns of voters.

The biopic “Dark Horse”

The Supreme Court has authorized an investigation into the financing of “Dark Horse”, a biographical film about Jair Bolsonaro, by a banker indicted for a gigantic fraud. The film, still unpublished and headlined by American actor Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of the Christ”), exalts the figure of the former president.

Former boss of Banco Master, Daniel Vorcaro is currently in prison. His bank was liquidated for insolvency, with a debt of more than six billion euros. The Intercept Brasil site revealed messages with a familiar tone sent by the candidate to the banker at the end of 2025 (just before the latter was arrested) to ask him for money. He said Daniel Vorcaro paid just under $12 million.

After first assuring that he had no connection with the financier, Flavio Bolsonaro admitted to having asked him for funds for the film, while saying that there was no “intimacy” between them.

The president's son

The Supreme Court authorized three investigations into influence peddling targeting one of Lula's five sons, Fabio Luis known as "Lulinha", born from his marriage to his second wife, Marisa Leticia. The files are placed under investigative secrecy. According to the Brazilian press, the police are seeking to determine whether this 51-year-old businessman illegally served as an intermediary on behalf of relatives with the Ministry of Health and other public structures.

Suspicions also target Lula's former chief of staff, Marco Aurélio Santana, known as "Marcola", according to local media. “Lulinha’s” defense says he is innocent and a victim of “electoral interests.” “I believe it,” Lula said in an interview this week. “No one will ask for the proceedings concerning my son to be closed,” he also promised, swearing that if the latter “is guilty, he will pay”.