By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Former Rio de Janeiro governor, Sergio Cabral, has been formally charged of money laundering, currency evasion and passive corruption in the Lava Jato (Carwash) corruption scandal.
This is the second time the courts have accepted charges against ex-governor in the Lava Jato scandal. In November Cabral was jailed in relation to another case where he is accused of receiving kickbacks from state construction works totaling R$220 million. The former official is incarcerated at the Bangu Prison Complex in Rio.
“The total concealed abroad corresponds to R$318,554,478.91, which represents only part of what was taken from the public coffers, through an ingenious process of sending funds from abroad,” said the prosecutors’ formal complaint to the court. Officials say that of that amount, approximately US$85.38 million (R$270.8 million) have been retrieved by authorities.
According to prosecutors after the conclusion of plea bargaining agreements, they were able to conclude that Sérgio Cabral and his criminal organization concealed and ‘laundered’ R$39,757,947.69 stored in Brazil; US$100,160,304.90 deposited in cash in accounts abroad; €1,214,026.13 hidden in the form of diamonds, stored in a safe abroad; US$1,054,989.90 hidden in the form of diamonds, stored in a safe abroad; and $247,950.00 hidden in the form of four and a half pounds of gold, stored abroad.
Along with ex-governor Cabral, eight other people were also charged with corruption. The prosecutors charged Cabral with 25 counts of currency evasion, 30 counts of money laundering crimes and nine counts of passive corruption.
Cabral served two terms as governor of Rio de Janeiro, leaving office in 2014 to try an unsuccessful attempt to win a Senate seat in Brasilia.