Brazil sets up police unit to tackle organized crime
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad announced the creation of a police unit dedicated to combating financial crimes. The announcement came on the same day Operation Spare was carried out. The operation is investigating a criminal organization that launders money through gas stations and fintechs and profits from gambling. A total of twenty-five search and seizure warrants were executed.
“This police unit will combat organized crime in a structured manner, as well as its intersection with the real economy,” the minister explained.
Haddad pointed out that Thursday’s operation (Sep. 25) was the fourth in this area, carried out with the cooperation of various agencies, including the federal and state public prosecutors’ offices and the military police.
The minister revealed that in the coming weeks he will submit the proposal for the new police unit, which will be part of the Federal Revenue Service’s organizational chart, to the Ministry of Management and Innovation.
Operation Spare arose from suspicions regarding the financial transactions of the companies involved in the alleged fraud. “The companies moved BRL 4.5 billion and paid taxes on only 0.1 percent of that amount, which caught the attention of the Federal Revenue Service,” Haddad said.
Colonel Valmor Racorti, commander of the Shock Police, reported that nearly BRL 1 million in cash, 20 cell phones, computers, and a firearm were seized.
“Criminal factions have long focused on drug trafficking, but new structures have enabled them to operate in other areas, including the formal economy and the political arena,” said São Paulo Attorney General Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira e Costa.
Silvio Loubeh, prosecutor for the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco), reported that the investigations began with suspicions about gambling houses in Baixada Santista - a metropolitan region on São Paulo’s coast - linked to credit and debit machines.
“Our investigation of the companies that received these funds revealed two gas stations involved in money laundering. From there, we uncovered a criminal group laundering money not only through these stations but also through other fuel-sector businesses, a chain of motels, and front companies that moved millions of reais,” Loubeh added.
The Secretary of the Federal Revenue Service, Robinson Barreirinhas, also supported measures aimed at strengthening control over the importation of oil and its derivatives. “These are a series of advances we will need to implement to combat this widespread infiltration,” he said.
Investigations also indicate links between the group under investigation, the First Capital Command (PCC) – Brazil’s largest criminal organization - and companies in the hotel sector.
