Mega Operation of Civil Police Targets White Collar Crime in Brazil

By Richard Mann, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Civil Police of the Federal District initiated, this Thursday morning (9th), a mega operation in eight states and in the FD to arrest suspects of diverting almost R$30 (US$7.5) million from Banco do Brasil between 2017 and 2018.

Altogether, the investigation should serve 17 arrest warrants and 28 search and seizure warrants in Pernambuco, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Paraná, and FD until the end of the day.

Among those targeted are two former employees of the state bank and entrepreneurs from 11 outsourced companies who had contracts with the bank for collecting debts from clients.

The police reported that when the bank’s clients settled their debts after contacting the outsourced company, Banco do Brasil would automatically pay a commission. However, in some cases, there were inconsistencies in the system and payment needed to be made manually by a server.

This way, the bank would pay an additional amount to the service provider and “receive a bribe fee”, according to the investigation.

Civil police officers have identified one of those liable for these payments, which at the time received up to R$4 million in credits over a period of two years. The suspect was dismissed by the bank in January. Another former employee would have also received R$900,000 in his account.

Banco do Brasil reported the scheme to the police after an internal audit discovered the leak. The investigation led to the Court authorizing the blocking of R$16 million from the suspects’ accounts.