Fri, Mar 21th, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-03/21/c_133202796.htm
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A former director of Brazil's state oil and gas giant Petrobras was arrested Thursday in Rio in a Federal Police sting against money laundering, authorities said.
Paulo Roberto Costa, ex-director of Refineries and Supply at Petrobras, is one of the suspects in a money laundering scheme worth 10 billion reals (about 4.25 billion U.S. dollars).
Police said 700,000 reals (297,800 U.S. dollars) and 200,000 U.S. dollars in cash were found at Costa's house at the time of his arrest.
Another 23 people were also arrested in the operation, and a number of items, such as documents, vehicles and jewelry, were seized.
Costa is also being investigated in connection with the purchase, by Petrobras, of a refinery in the U.S. city of Pasadena, California, local daily Valor Economico reported.
According to the prosecutor's office, the 2006 refinery deal caused Petrobras extensive financial losses due to overpricing, and Costa was one of the executives responsible for the acquisition.
President Dilma Rousseff, who was a member of the Petrobras Board at the time of the acquisition, voted for the purchase of the Pasadena refinery.
She recently said her vote was based on a flawed technical report.