FORMER Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that charges of corruption levelled against him were politically biased.

Sao Paolo prosecutor Cassio Conserino had filed charges that day in relation to money-laundering investigations.He alleged that Mr da Silva had concealed ownership of a seaside penthouse flat in the nearby town of Guaruja, the deeds to which are held by construction company OAS.

The former Workers’ Party president denied the allegations, stressing that he had already disproved them.

In a statement released by the Lula Institute, Mr da Silva said that his family had put a down payment on a flat in the complex but later asked for a refund after the original developer folded and sold the project to OAS.

“Lula is not the owner of the apartment … and has not committed any crime,” the statement read.Mr da Silva says the property belongs to friends who allowed him to stay there on two occasions.

It added that the former president had already supplied prosecutors with documents proving that he was not the owner, but that Mr Conserino had chosen to ignore them.

“Cassio Conserino … made a prejudicial judgement before listening to the president, making it clear that he is not impartial.”

Mr da Silva pointed out that the allegations against him had already been decided on and leaked to the press before the investigation was complete.

“There is no news in the charges by Sao Paulo’s Attorney General’s office, since they were announced in the magazine Veja on January 22 2016,” it said.

Mr da Silva and two of his sons were grilled for hours by federal investigators on Friday in connection with allegations of bribery at state oil company Petrobras that have been used to attack Mr da Silva’s successor Dilma Rousseff.

The investigators said they they were looking into whether renovations at the Guaruja flat and another project at a country house used by the da Silva family constituted favours in exchange for political benefit.

The Workers’ Party denounced the interrogations, which were carried out a week after Mr da Silva indicated he may stand for the presidency again in 2018, as politically motivated.