Former Rio state governor gets sixth indictment

Former Rio de Janeiro state governor Sérgio Cabral has been indicted on charges of money laundering, illegal offshore banking, and accepting bribes. The charges filed by the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF) were accepted by Judge Marcelo Bretas of the Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday (March 8). He had already been indicted in five other existing cases.

Cabral has been charged with 25 counts of illegal offshore banking, 30 counts of money laundering, and nine counts of bribe-taking, as a result of two spin-off investigations from Operation Car Wash in Rio called “Eficiência” and “Hic et Ubique”.

The MPF said plea bargaining deals have helped uncover how Sérgio Cabral and his criminal organization hid and laundered money. Investigators found $12.4 million kept in Brazil, $100 million cash deposited in offshore accounts; €1.2 million plus $1 million in diamonds, and $247,900 in 4.5 kilos of gold, kept in vaults overseas.

It has also reported that $85.38 million was repatriated from accounts held by the whistleblowers with Winchester Development SA, Prosperity Fund SPC Obo Globum, Andrews Development SA, Bendigo Enterprises Limited, and FreeFly Fund, and deposited in court.

Cabral has been jailed at Bangu Prison Complex in Rio since November 17. He was arrested following an embezzlement investigation known as “Operation Calicut”. According to the investigations, the former governor was behind a corruption scandal involving contractor kickbacks, money laundering, and bid rigging in federally-funded large-scale projects in the state.

Translated by Mayra Borges