Monday, 21 March 2016

Breaking News: Raúl Schmidt Felippe detained in Portugal, linked to the anti-corruption Lava Jato case in Brazil

Raúl Schmidt Felippe

Raul Schmidt, a partner of the former director of Petrobras, 
was located by the Judicial Police in a luxury apartment in central Lisbon. 
"He was literally hiding away," said a PJ source to the Observer Newspaper.
His name had been included in an Interpol alert in October last year.

The Judicial Police arrested Raul Schmidt Felippe, 
on Monday morning, in Lisbon, 
who was a partner of a former director of Petrobras, 
under the anti-corruption operation Lava Jato. 
Schmidt has been in flight from Brazil since last July 
and was "truly hidden" in a luxury apartment in central Lisbon, 
according to a police source. 
Felippe will be the subject of an extradition process to Brazil.

The detention, according to the Globe news agency, 
citing a statement from the Federal Public Ministry, 
was made in compliance with a rogatory letter 
issued by the Brazilian authorities. 
"A complex and difficult investigation," 
according to the police source to the Observer newspaper, 
which culminated in the arrest of the suspect 
in a luxury apartment, valued at about 3 million euros. 
The operation included the participation 
of a prosecutor from the Brazilian Public Ministry, 
a Portuguese prosecutor and a Portuguese judge 
- as well as elements of the Portuguese Judicial Police 
and the Brazilian Federal Police.

This is the first international operation 
conducted in the anti-corruption case Lava Jato. 
According to a statement issued by the Prosecutor's Office 
in the State of Paraná, 
Schmidt is being investigated for the illegal payment of kickbacks
 to former directors of Petrobras, 
Renato de Souza Duque, Nestor Cervero and Jorge Luiz Zelada.
These former Petrobras executives 
are currently all held in Curitiba 
for active participation in schemes of corruption, 
money laundering and criminal organizations.

Raul Schmidt had facilitated international companies 
in obtaining oil platform exploration contracts. 
Schmidt has dual Brazilian /Portuguese nationality
Schmidt lived in London, where he kept an art gallery, 
having moved to Portugal, 
shortly after the start of the anti-corruption operation.

According to the statement by the Portuguese prosecutor, 
this operation comes from a collaboration request, 
made by the Brazilian authorities in the Operation Lava Jato. 
"The Attorney General's Office has received, from the Brazilian authorities, 
three rogatory letters relating to this matter. 
One has already been returned. 
The remaining are being executed", 
the statement said.

One of the rogatory letters 
- a document by which another country´s authorities request 
and delegate to the Portuguese authorities measures of an investigation - 
was sent in July 2015 and was designed to obtain information 
on one of the investigated suspects, 
the maximum responsible for Petrobras´ Service Board, 
called Renato Duque.

As the Observer newspaper had reported, 
it aims to identify and apprehend documents, 
freeze monetary amounts deposited in a bank account of BANIF 
on behalf of an offshore company called Kingstall Financial 
and repatriate the money to Brazil. 
The Brazilian Public Ministry also intended to confirm 
the circuit of money that had originated 
in an offshore account in Antigua and Barracuda 
(an island in the Caribbean Sea), 
moving through Monaco to Portugal.

The whole international web of corruption, 
has roots in Portugal, 
with people in high govermental positions, 
including the ex-PM, José Sócrates.

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