Almost every government that has ever existed on this earth has been subject to some form of corruption. It can come in many different forms. A major way that governments corrupt themselves is though their politicians, which usually means that they were involved in bribery or misuse of money that did not belong to them in the first place. That is what happened in Brazil to their former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva grew up in a poor peasant family. But, he was able to overcome his earlier difficult circumstances when he grew older (“Profile: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva”). He began his early political career when he became the main spokesperson for a very large union. He was able to move the union together and …show more content…
One of his most major forms of corruption he was charged for was with the oil company called Petrobras (“Petrobras Oil Scandal Leaves Brazilians Lamenting a Lost Dream”). The scandals and corruptions at Petrobras were definitely at the white-collar level. Lots of money, wine, yachts, and very rich people were involved. Some of the company workers would hold fake competitions to help build new buildings or repair older ones in the company. The winners of the competition would receive money, and the overseeing Petrobras members would be compensated with substantial bribes, and, since the company was over fifty-one percent government owned, they would then turn that money around to help pay for campaigning for politics (“Petrobras Oil Scandal Leaves Brazilians Lamenting a Lost Dream”). One of the main receivers of that money was Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It was rumored that he possibly received up to twenty-six million dollars towards his campaign donations. He has been ordered to return the money to the proper people. Luiz also was accused in another area of getting over 1.1 million dollars to pay for a beachfront apartment. All of these different cases have ruined his legacy, because of the numerous cases of bribery and other scandals (“’Lula,’ Brazil’s Ex-President, is Charged With Corruption”). But, even with all of the different charges and arrests