President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has demanded an apology from Brazilian media outlets after a federal court ordered R$2.42 million from the 2018 auction of the Guarujá triplex returned to the construction group OAS.

Speaking during an online broadcast from Turkey, Lula linked the decision to the years he spent in prison over the case. “I was imprisoned for 580 days saying that the apartment was not mine,” he said, adding that those who accused him should apologize. He said any correction should receive the same prominence as the original allegations.¹

Lula’s supporters and the Workers’ Party interpret the ruling as a reaffirmation that the property belonged to OAS, which remained the registered owner. The PT said the release of the auction proceeds reinforced Lula’s longstanding position that “the property never belonged to him or his family.”²

The court’s decision, however, was focused on the funds rather than a new assessment of the accusations. Judge Marcelo Gentil Monteiro found that, with the criminal case over and no legal basis to retain the money, the proceeds should go to the company listed as the owner; the Federal Public Ministry supported their release.³

Sergio Moro, the former Lava Jato judge and now a senator, disputes the PT’s broader reading. “The civil court never said that the triplex was not Lula’s or that it had always belonged to OAS,” Moro said. He argued that the funds were released because Lula’s criminal convictions had been annulled and the seizure no longer had a legal basis.⁴

The divide rests on what the ruling establishes. Lula’s allies emphasize the property record and the collapse of the case that imprisoned him; Moro emphasizes that the order did not decide whether the apartment had been intended as an improper benefit. Lula’s convictions were annulled in 2021 over jurisdictional and procedural issues, and the subsequent case was closed after prosecutors cited the expiration of the legal time limit.³