Switzerland hands CHF365m Petrobras-Odebrecht assets to Brazil
Switzerland has so far returned to Brazil CHF365 million ($365 million) in seized assets relating to the Petrobras-Odebrecht corporate corruption scandal. The Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has confiscated a total CHF700 million during its investigations.
The “Operation Car Wash” investigation into the state-run Petrobras oil company and Odebrecht, Latin America’s largest construction company, is one of the most serious corruption cases in Brazilian history.
Since April 2014, the OAG has opened 70 criminal proceedings against banks, other financial institutions and individuals having received reports of numerous suspicious transactions involving 1,000 Swiss banking relationships.
In February last year, the Swiss prosecutor sanctioned PKB private bank and ordered the Lugano-headquartered institution to hand over CHF1.3 million in illegally obtained profits. The Swiss financial regulator has also issued enforcement orders against other banks involved in the scandal.
On April 8, the Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber signed a joint declaration with his Brazilian counterpart “reaffirming their commitment to continue and intensify their cooperation”. This has involved the OAG executing 120 requests for mutual legal assistance from various countries in “one of the most complex” cases it has handled.
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Swiss banker earned millions from Petrobras money-laundering
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The former deputy director of the PKB bank earned $2.65 million (CHF2.6 million) for services rendered to the Brazilian group Odebrecht.
Swiss private bank sanctioned in Petrobras corruption case
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The Petrobras state oil company is at the centre of one of Brazil’s worst-ever corporate corruption scandalsExternal link. The affair has dragged in companies, banks and prosecutors from several countries, including Switzerland. It involved a money laundering network that funneled millions of dollars in bribe money through hundreds of Swiss bank accounts, which ended up…
Petrobras corruption firms pay CHF200 million penalty
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Three Brazilian companies must pay over CHF200 million ($194 million) in penalties to Switzerland for their part in the Petrobras scandal.
Swiss arrest Brazilian suspected in Petrobras scandal
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The man had come to Switzerland to withdraw funds and take them out of the country. He was arrested while closing an account at a Geneva bank, prosecutors said. He is suspected of involvement in the payment of bribes to former Petrobras executives and is being held in custody in Switzerland for three months because…
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