A Brazilian Senate decision to strip bank- and tax-secrecy protections from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s son has intensified political pressure on the leftist leader as lawmakers investigate an alleged fraud scheme inside the national pension system, Bloomberg reported.

Senate chief Davi Alcolumbre ruled Tuesday that a congressional committee vote to lift confidentiality protections on the tax and banking records of Fábio Luís Lula da Silva must stand, rejecting an effort by lawmakers from Lula’s Workers’ Party to overturn the decision. The party argued the committee vote had been miscounted last week, but Alcolumbre upheld it, clearing the way for investigators to seek access to the records, Bloomberg said. 

The move comes amid a widening inquiry into allegations that billions of reais were improperly deducted from retiree accounts at Brazil’s pension institute, the INSS. A special congressional committee is examining claims that money was illegally taken from pension payments. 

Separately, federal police are investigating whether Lula’s son, widely known as “Lulinha”, served as a silent partner to a lobbyist accused of helping facilitate the improper deductions, Bloomberg said.

The episode reopens a politically sensitive vulnerability for Lula and his Workers’ Party: corruption perceptions that opponents have long sought to exploit. For over two decades, Lula has faced intermittent allegations of criminality, ranging from vote-buying claims to international corruption scandals, including claims that he accepted bribes from Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras. 

Lula spent 580 days in prison after a 2017 conviction on graft and money-laundering charges, but the case was later annulled. During a December press conference, he said that “if a son of mine is involved in this, he will be investigated,” Bloomberg reported. 

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