Switzerland Returns R$20 Million in Diamonds and Gold from Sérgio Cabral Scheme

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Through a joint strategy of the International Cooperation Secretariat of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Lava Jato task force in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has recovered 27 diamonds and 4.5 kilos of gold bought with illegal money from the management of the former Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral.

On Friday, March 6th, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) released 27 diamonds and 4.5 kg of gold that were bought with money from the corruption scheme headed by the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral. The goods were in Switzerland and, according to experts, are valued at more than R$20 (US$5) million.

The operation to return this treasure was granted by Judge Marcelo Bretas, of the Rio de Janeiro’s 7th Federal Criminal Court, in charge of Lava Jato cases in the state. The mission began last Tuesday, March 3rd, when prosecutors boarded for Geneva, were handed the goods and returned to Brazil. The diamonds and gold were delivered into the custody of a bank on Friday, March 6th, reported the MPF.

The operation was carried out by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, through the Secretariat of International Cooperation (SCI), and the Lava Jato Task Force in Rio. The procedure was also assisted by the police and the Federal Revenue Service, in addition to the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office and the Italian embassy.

The existence and location of the diamonds and the gold were disclosed by the money dealer brothers Marcelo and Renato Chebar. In March 2017, Judge Bretas authorized the transfer of R$ 250 million from the brothers’ collaboration agreement to pay the state civil servants’ 13th month salary.

Sérgio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho (born January 27, 1963) is a Brazilian politician and a journalist. He was elected governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro in the 2006 Brazilian general election and sworn into office on January 1, 2007.

On September 14, 2009, Sérgio Cabral received the Légion d’honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honor), the highest award of the French government. The medal ceremony took place in Paris in the French Senate.

Mptr trcently, he was accused of charging 5 percent on every contract awarded to Odebrecht, including those for restoring the Maracanã stadium and the Comperj petrochemical plant. According to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, he was implicated in Operation Car Wash by Benedicto Barbosa da Silva Júnior, the companies’ director.

On November 17, 2016, the Federal Police of Brazil arrested Sérgio Cabral and seven other persons (including former secretaries of his government), as part of Operation Lava Jato.

He was accused of embezzling R224 million, more than US$80 million US. On December 6, 2016, the court heard charges filed by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), then charged Sérgio Cabral with corruption, racketeering and money laundering.

In February 2017, the MPF-RJ further accused Cabral as part of Operation Efficiency, another operation connected to Operation Lava Jato.

On 13 June 2017, he was sentenced to 14 years and two months of imprisonment for passive corruption and money laundering. On 20 September 2017 he was sentenced to an additional 45 years imprisonment for embezzlement.

On July 3, 2018, within the scope of the Lava Jato probe, failed Brazilian businessman Eike Batista was convicted of bribing Cabral for state government contracts, paying him US$16.6 million. Batista was sentenced to 30 year imprisonment, the maximum permissible.