SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Beach-side apartments in Brazil may have been used as bribes and to launder money for members of the ruling Workers’ Party, police and prosecutors said yesterday after ordering six arrests and 15 search warrants.
In the latest phase of Brazil’s largest-ever corruption probe, investigators are looking into whether construction firm OAS SA used apartments in the Solaris complex in Guaruja as bribes in a corruption scheme involving state-run oil firm Petrobras.
Dozens of executives and politicians have been arrested or are under investigation on suspicion of overcharging Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, and using part of the proceeds to bribe members of President Dilma Rousseff’s ruling coalition.
The apartments were held in the name of front companies, such as Murray Holdings LLC that was registered by Panama-based Mossack Group, prosecutors said at a news conference, adding Mossack has previously helped hide criminal activity offshore.
“There is real evidence of money laundering. We are looking principally at this time at the Vaccari family,” said prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, referring to Joao Vaccari, the jailed former treasurer of the Workers’ Party.
Vaccari has been convicted and sentenced to just over 15 years in jail.
Local O Globo said former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also had an apartment held under another name in the complex. Lima did not confirm this.
“If there was an apartment that was in his name … or someone in his family, we will investigate it like any other,” Lima said. Police emphasized that all the apartments in the buildings were under investigation.
Lula has said his wife had had an option to buy an apartment in the complex but that they never purchased it. He has threatened to prosecute journalists for smearing his name in connection with the Petrobras case.
Lula’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
