Offshoots of Operation Car Wash
In addition to Delcídio do Amaral and his chief of staff, two others were also arrested in the affair; banker André Esteves, then CEO of BTG Pactual, and Nestor Cerveró's defense lawyer Edson Ribeiro.
The value of the investigated contracts is R$680 million ($170,000,000).The Federal Police also pointed to the participation of JD Consultoria [pt], a company belonging to former Minister José Dirceu, arrested in Operation Car Wash.
A month earlier, CPI members went to London to gather testimony from Jonathan David Taylor, a former SBM director who reported irregularities in contracts signed between the Dutch company and Petrobras.
[51] In the same operation, agents of the Federal Police seized computers, documents and archival material at the headquarters of the national executive committee of the Workers' Party in downtown São Paulo.
The brothers' financial center operated for at least three major contractors, Andrade Gutierrez, Delta and Odebrecht, in projects such as the construction of the Angra III nuclear power plant, the renovation of Maracanã Stadium for the 2014 World Cup and the implementation of the Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex, in Itaboraí.
Delegations of Andrade Gutierrez executives named Jonas Lopes, showing that he was one of the ones who benefited most by the dual payment scheme in major projects of the Rio de Janeiro government, as revealed by Operation Calicute.
[70] One of the topics of inquiry was the payment of a 16.5 million dollar bribe by Eike Batista and Flávio Godinho (already under arrest) of EBX Group, to former governor Sergio Cabral of Rio de Janeiro using the Golden Rock account in Panama's TAG Bank.
The searches were related to an inquiry underway at the Court to investigate payment by the Belo Monte consortium companies of a 1% bribe from the values of the plant's works to the Workers' Party (PT) and the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB).
[79] On 21 March 2017, the Federal Police launched Operation Satellite serving fourteen warrants at thirteen addresses in the cities of Brasília, Maceió, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador.
The delação premiada[b] (literally, "rewarded whistleblowing" or, "informing") of former chairman Jonas Lopes de Carvalho Junior led to action against five board members in at least two kickback schemes to turn a blind eye to irregularities committed by contractors and bus companies operating in the state.
[81] According to the accusation of one of the counselors, the state president and deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, Jorge Picciani (MDB), is suspected of organizing payments to the five TCE advisers arrested in the operation.
The scheme revealed involved fraud at both the State Health Secretariat and the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics [pt] (INTO), of which Côrtes was director, with the directing of bids in exchange for payment of bribes.
[84] Moreover, the investigations highlighted the trafficking practiced by characters surrounding other politicians of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) in Alagoas, Tocantins, Maranhão, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe and Roraima.
Instead, part of the money, received by the senator's cousin,[90] ended up in a company owned by Zezé Perrella, an old friend of Aécio who was also implicated in the biggest drug traffic scandal in Brazilian History.
The operation was based on colaboração premiada[c] agreements between the Public Ministry and the civil engineering conglomerates Camargo Corrêa and Andrade Gutierrez, who admitted they paid bribes to Juquinha das Nevez, former president of Valec.
[95] On 1 June 2017, the Federal Police carried out Operation Hidden Figure, to investigate electoral crimes and money laundering during the 2012 campaign of Fernando Haddad for Mayor of São Paulo.
The operation investigated active and passive corruption[e] and money laundering in the construction of Arena das Dunas in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte with a surcharge that reached $77 million.
[97] On 8 June 2017, the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro State (PCERJ) performed a major operation to investigate crimes of corruption and money laundering in the regional power utility Eletrobrás Furnas.
The MPF prosecutors are based on the corruption complaint against the contractor Carioca Engenharia, involving payment of kickbacks and diversion of funds in the construction of the bus corridor Transcarioca, which cost R$2 billion ($510 million), and the drainage of streams in the Basin of Jacarepaguá.
In concert with Edson Albertassi [pt] and Paulo Melo, he is suspected of favoring the interests of businessmen in the state, including representatives of the public transport sector and contractors, in exchange for a bribe.
The police stated that the companies participating in the scheme simulated the sale of goods to the customer of the laundering "service", which then paid for non-existent products via bank transfers or slips (to give the appearance of legality to the acquisition).
The targets of the investigation were accused of being part of a criminal organization that rigged food supply contracts (take-out, breakfast, and snacks) for at least six years (2009–2014) for the state's more than 50,000 prisoners, always keeping the same suppliers, who shared in the profits of the scheme.
The operation was authorized by Supreme Federal Court Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, rapporteur of the inquiry investigating whether Temer accepted bribes in order to benefit companies in the port sector.
The suspects were part of a system called Bank Drop, in which moneymakers remitted funds abroad through illegal dollar wire transfers known as dólar-cabo,[u] a method in which money does not pass through central bank-regulated financial institutions.
[137] On 21 June 2018, the Federal Police carried out a new operation in São Paulo with an investigation that found irregularities in construction of the northern section of the ring road, from the conclusion of contractual additions and consequent increases to the total cost.
The operation then targeted companies involved in the scheme of cartelization and embezzlement of money in the provision of prosthetics and medical equipment by means of fraudulent bids in the so-called "international trading floor club" headed by Iskin.
They also served arrest warrants on the director general of INTO, André Loyelo, and on two executives of Philips Brazil, one of the 37 companies involved in the scheme and accused of the crimes of cartel formation, corruption, bid rigging, criminal organization, and money laundering.
On 4 September 2018, the Federal Police served nine court orders, three of which were for pre-trial detention and six for search and seizure, investigating an illegal scheme of trade in emeralds and other precious and semiprecious stones, capital flight[clarification needed], and money laundering by the former governor Sérgio Cabral in Rio de Janeiro and in Bahia.
The operation led to the arrest of the former national secretary of justice Astério Pereira dos Santos, who was suspected of involvement in a scheme to pay kickbacks to members of the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Auditors [pt] (TCE-RJ).
[166] Car Wash operations outside Brazil began after Odebrecht S.A. and Braskem admitted in a leniency agreement filed with the US Department of Justice that they paid bribes abroad totaling more than one billion dollars.
