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Brazil justice opens probe against Rousseff, Lula, TV says

Reuters
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff (L) and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attend the appointment of Lula da Silva as chief of staff, at Planalto palace in Brasilia, Brazil, March 17, 2016. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A Brazilian Federal Supreme Court justice authorized the opening of an investigation into President Dilma Rousseff and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for allegedly obstructing the course of a sweeping corruption probe, GloboNews news channel said on Tuesday. According to GloboNews, without saying how it obtained the information, Prosecutor-general Rodrigo Janot has requested the country's top court, known as STF, permission to open an investigation on Rousseff and Lula. Rousseff will stand impeachment trial on the Senate on Aug. 25 for allegedly doctoring budget accounts. Media representatives for the STF and the presidential palace did not immediately comment. (Reporting by Maria Pia Palermo; Writing by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by James Dalgleish)