Federal Police delays Lulinha questioning as phone evidence review continues

Federal Police delays Lulinha questioning as phone evidence review continues
Brazil’s Federal Police is expected to summon Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, for questioning only after the election runoff, according to reporting that links the timetable to the forensic examination of lobbyist Roberta Luchsinger’s phone.

The reported rationale combines two considerations. Investigators are said to be dealing with a large volume of data from the device, seized in December 2025 during Operation Sem Desconto, an inquiry into alleged large-scale fraud involving Brazil’s social-security system. The decision is also described as an effort to avoid developments that could affect the current election campaign.

Messages recovered from the phone reportedly refer to Lulinha as a business partner and discuss efforts to arrange business with entrepreneurs seeking public contracts. The report says he is not a target in the social-security investigation, but that his name appears in three separate sealed Supreme Court inquiries involving, among other matters, alleged influence-peddling, money laundering and technology contracts.

The material also reportedly names officials close to the presidential administration and civil servants. Those references remain allegations within ongoing investigations, rather than findings of wrongdoing.

Lulinha’s defence rejects the allegations, saying he works only in the private sector. It has questioned the authenticity of the messages and described their disclosure as the result of criminal leaks. Luchsinger’s defence likewise says her work was legitimate advisory activity and criticises the release of material under seal.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said his son should answer for himself. While Lula has said he did not know Luchsinger, the report notes that photographs of the pair together in 2022 have circulated publicly; the presidential office has characterised them as ordinary images involving a public figure.

The contrast is therefore between an investigation presented as constrained by technical review and electoral sensitivity, and defences that dispute both the evidence and the way it has entered public view.

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