This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A one-time chief of staff for the former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday for corruption, money-laundering and conspiracy in a vast bribery scandal at the state-run oil company.

Brazil corruption scandal claims scalp as top industrialist jailed for 19 years Read more

José Dirceu, a top powerbroker in the leftist Workers’ party that governed Brazil from 2003 until last week, had previously been sentenced separately by the supreme court to over 10 years in prison for running a congressional vote-buying operation.

“Not even a conviction by the country’s highest court could inhibit criminal relapse,” federal judge Sérgio Moro wrote in his sentencing decision, noting that Dirceu had been taking part in the bribery scheme even after he was convicted for vote-buying.

Moro is overseeing the investigation of state-run Petróleo Brasileiro SA, commonly known as Petrobras.

The corruption investigation, Brazil’s biggest ever, has led to the imprisonment of business executives and veteran politicians, contributed to its worst recession in decades and stirred public outrage that fanned an impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff.

Brazil’s senate last week suspended Rousseff, Lula’s hand-picked successor, pending the outcome of a trial in the chamber for violating budget rules. The move cleared the way for a more business-friendly government to take power on an interim basis.

Rousseff has not been accused of wrongdoing as part of the Petrobras case. Lula, who founded the Workers’ party along with Dirceu and other leftwing activists in the 1980s, is under investigation because of accusations he received favours paid for by companies indicted in the inquiry.