Brazil Workers' Party treasurer arrested in Petrobras corruption investigation

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/15/brazil-treasurer-petrobras-arrested

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Federal police have arrested the treasurer of Brazil’s governing Workers’ party in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into a corruption scheme at the state-run oil giant Petrobras.

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João Vaccari Neto was detained in São Paulo as he was heading out for an early morning jog, police and judicial officials told reporters at a news conference in the southern city of Curitiba, where the investigation is being led. The Workers’ party said later he had asked to resign his post.

Vaccari’s sister-in-law was also detained and his wife was questioned in connection with a series of unidentified deposits in her account that investigators suspect might be related to the kickback scheme at Petrobras.

Vaccari has maintained his innocence, telling a congressional panel last week that all the donations made to his party during last year’s political campaign were perfectly legal. His lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.

Dozens of congressmen and some former executive branch officials, including two former chiefs of staff to President Dilma Rousseff, are under investigation, but Vaccari is seen as the closest figure to the president yet implicated in the scandal. Rousseff herself, who served as chairwoman of Petrobras’s board during several years as the graft took place, isn’t implicated.

Detained “preventatively”, Vaccari is to be taken to Curitiba to testify, investigators said. He was charged last month with corruption and money laundering in connection with the scheme, which prosecutors have described as the biggest ever uncovered in Brazil. According to federal prosecutors, big construction and engineering firms paid at least $800m in bribes and other funds in return for inflated contracts with Petrobras, which is Brazil’s biggest company. Part of that money allegedly went to the Workers’ Party and other top parties for political campaigns.

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In Wednesday’s news conference, federal police officer Igor Romário de Paula said officials have been collecting evidence against Vaccari “for a long time”.

He said the judge in the case, Sérgio Moro, decided to order Vaccari’s detention due to his “criminal habits, recidivism, a clear danger to public order and because of the kind of projection he has, the influence of the job he has today and the possibility of his fleeing”.

Folha de S Paulo newspaper quoted Moro as suggesting the arrest order was prompted by worries that Vaccari might be able to influence the investigation.

“Those who stand accused of such serious crimes, including the utilisation of the position of treasurer of a political party to raise criminal resources and corrupt the political system, present a risk to public order,” Moro was quoted as saying. “In such a position of political influence, he could continue in his criminal behaviours and even get in the way of the investigations.”

Brazilian law sets no limit to how long those under preventative arrest can be detained.

More than 100 people have been charged in connection with the Petrobras scheme, and more than 50 politicians are under investigation.