Another ex-minister held in Brazil graft probe
SAO PAULO: Brazilian police on Monday arrested former finance minister Antonio Palocci, the latest high-level suspect in the huge Petrobras corruption probe, prosecutors said.
He joins a long list of top officials accused of taking part in a huge bribery scheme linked to the state oil company, which has rocked the political establishment in Latin America’s biggest economy.
Palocci, 55, served as finance minister under former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and as chief of staff for his successor Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached this month.
Palocci was also a key figure in the leftist Workers’ Party. His lawyer Roberto Batochio rejected the accusations as a ‘show.’
The suspect “was detained in Sao Paulo on a temporary detention order for five days and must leave today for Curitiba,” the southern city where a judge is leading the probe, an official in the state prosecution service told AFP.
Palocci was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes from the construction company Odebrecht, one of the main firms involved in the huge Petrobras pay-to-play scandal.
Evidence from emails and mobile telephones shows “that the ex-minister Antonio Palocci... acted in favor of the Odebrecht group between 2006 and late 2013,” a statement from the prosecution service said.
Investigating judge Sergio Moro ordered the arrests of two further suspects and the freezing of assets belonging to them worth tens of millions of dollars, it said.
Police said in a statement they were investigating “negotiations between the Odebrecht group and the ex-minister to try to pass a law” that would bring “immense fiscal benefits” to the firm. — AFP