Another massive graft probe opens in Brazil

[forest444]

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Brazil’s federal police launched an extensive operation yesterday to investigate massive alleged fraud at state-run companies’ pension funds in a probe forcing business leaders such as the chief executive of meat packer JBS and the president of constructor WTorre to step down from their companies.

Police said they were carrying out seven arrest orders and over a hundred search warrants, while freezing assets worth 8 billion reais ($2.5 billion) — including the confiscation of a plane, 139 vehicles and 90 real estate properties. Prosecutors said the scope of the fraud is comparable to the billions of dollars of kickbacks discovered at state-controlled oil firm Petrobras which has led to the imprisonment of a string of high-profile businessmen and politicians, dubbed “Operation Car Wash.”

Yesterday’s fresh probe into Brazil’s elite has been named “Operation Greenfield” and may threaten future economic and political stability in a country that is still reeling from a deep recession as well as the controversial, divisive impeachment of its first female president, Dilma Rousseff, last week. The judge overseeing the case ordered 40 individuals under investigation, including JBS principals Wesley and Joesley Batista, to step away from any role at their companies. The dismissals were allegedly a leniency offered in place of their arrest.

The sweeping operation was the latest in a string of anti-graft investigations, which have roiled Latin America’s largest economy for more than two years and been a principal catalyst in its political crisis. The pension funds caught up in yesterday’s investigation are those of state-run banks Caixa Economica Federal and Banco do Brasil, Petrobras, and postal service Correios, police said.

Police said the investigation was focused on 10 cases that had caused enormous losses to pensioners, including reckless or fraudulent investments made through connected investment funds. Brazil’s securities regulator, known as CVM, said in a statement that the probe that led to yesterday’s operation started a year and a half ago. Secrecy on the operation was expected to be lifted last night, CVM said.

Read more: http://www.buenosairesherald.com.ar/article/221152/another-massive-graft-probe-opens-in-brazil

[Judi Lynn]

1. We know the right-wing oligarchs in Brazil aren't going to pursue these matters too deeply,

just as they never did in all the long years before Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. They ARE the dirtballs being investigated. As was revealed during the leaked phone call, it was the intention of the fascists in their Congress to take over and end the investigations!

This is a surprise they probably didn't see coming. Your emphasis on the dismissals offered in place of their arrests is so appropriate. Clearly they are trying to put a lid on the things which were underway. Disgusting.

[forest444]

2. Well said.

The Batistas are - no pun intended - sacred cattle in Brazil. They were indeed very close to the dictatorship in the '70s, and to right-wing parties since then.