Lula's son faces Brazil police probe, source says

A justice of Brazil's Supreme Court has authorised a police investigation into Fabio Luis Lula da Silva, a son of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday.

The judicial source said Justice Andre Mendonca authorised the investigation but did not provide further details.

Folha de S.Paulo reported that police will investigate whether Fabio Luis Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, helped a lobbyist in dealings with the Health Ministry over the marketing of medicinal cannabis.

The lobbyist is a businessman who has been imprisoned since last September and was identified as a key figure in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme targeting retirees and pensioners.

The scandal erupted in April last year and led to the dismissal of the social security minister and the president of the National Social Security Institute in Lula's government.

In February, a congressional committee authorised an investigation into Lulinha's bank accounts on suspicion that he had acted as a hidden partner in ventures allegedly financed with funds diverted from the scheme.

Flavio Bolsonaro, son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, criticised the case in an online broadcast Thursday, asking what would happen if a son of former president Bolsonaro were suspected of receiving money from INSS pensioners.

Lula said in an interview with the Inteligencia Ltda podcast that his son would not receive preferential treatment. "If my son is accused of something, he will receive the same treatment as any other son. He will not have privileges," Lula said.

The 80-year-old president is due to be officially named Sunday as the ruling Workers' Party candidate for the October presidential election, where he will face Flavio Bolsonaro. Jair Bolsonaro is imprisoned for an attempted coup.