Banco do Brasil Managers Investigated by Lava Jato for Money Laundering

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Three managers and a former manager of Banco do Brasil are among those investigated in Operation Minimum Alert, the 66th phase of Lava Jato, launched yesterday, September 27th, by the Federal Police (PF).

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor (MPF), all three managers were chosen by currency brokers (‘doleiros’) to facilitate the execution of hundreds of money laundering operations between 2011 and 2014.

“Evidence collected during the Lava Jato operation indicate that managers linked to three Banco do Brasil branches, located in São Paulo, received bribes to disregard the institution’s money laundering prevention mechanisms.” According to Prosecutor Roberson Pozzobon, the managers now being investigated, when questioned by their superiors about the amounts of illicit transactions, defended the normality of these operations.

The MPF points out that the illegal amount moved by those investigated, through bank transfers “from accounts held by the criminal organization, exceeded the amount of R$200 million (US$50 million).” According to prosecutors, a large part of this amount was transformed into cash for use by contractors in the payment of kickback contracts with Petrobras.

“The misconduct of the managers made it possible for accounts, in the name of shell companies controlled by criminal organizations, to be opened and operated in the financial institution for a long period, carrying out hundreds of money laundering operations, including deposits and withdrawals of significant amounts of cash,” says the MPF.

The prosecutors reported that the evidence indicated that the managers investigated acted to “unduly close records of the Banco do Brasil’s money laundering detection system, by inserting justifications that they knew were false, which prevented or hindered the reporting of suspicious transactions to the Financial Activities Control Council (COAF).”

The investigators of the operation also said that the Banco do Brasil was made aware of the existence of the criminal scheme involving the institution’s employees. According to prosecutor Pozzobon, the bank then, under judicial subpoena, carried out confidential internal investigations whose results were sent to Lava Jato’s investigators, including “other evidence of the actions of its employees to facilitate money laundering operations.”

Banco do Brasil advised by a note that it has collaborated with the investigations and that it has initiated administrative processes involving the employees under investigation.

Source: Agência Brasil