RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal police officers arrested today (10th) Márcio Lobão, son of former senator Edison Lobão, from Maranhão, in the 65th phase of Operation Lava Jato.
Márcio and the ex-senator are suspected of involvement in corruption schemes
involving the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant in Pará, and other companies such as Transpetro, a subsidiary of Petrobras.
There are also 11 search and seizure warrants being served in the cities of Rio de Janeiro,
São Paulo and Brasília. Auditors from the Federal Revenue Service are participating in the operation.
According to the Federal Police (PF), the crimes of corruption and money laundering resulting from the payment of undue gratifications, are being investigated. Among those suspected of receiving bribes is also former senator Edison Lobão, who was Minister of Mines and Energy from 2011 to 2014.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), the suspects received R$ 50 million in bribes from Odebrecht between 2008 and 2014. Another 40 contracts are being investigated in this phase of the Lava Jato.
The money, according to the MPF, was delivered in cash to a law firm linked to the Lobão family, located in Rio de Janeiro.
The investigation showed that the funds were being laundered through the purchase and sale of works of art and real estate, fake family loans and the movement of securities in accounts opened in names of offshore companies.