SÃO PAULO: Brazilian federal police carried out search-and-seizure requests Tuesday against several local politicians, including former President Fernando Collor de Mello, as part of an investigation into an alleged corruption scheme at state-run oil firm Petróleo Brasileiro SA.
The police seized documents in the home and offices of several congressmen, including Mr. de Mello, according to a police spokesman. The spokesman declined to name the other politicians whose homes and offices were searched.
From Mr. de Mello’s home in Brasilia, the police seized three luxury cars, including a Porsche, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, said the police spokesman.
The police will hold the cars until an investigation shows the exact source of the money with which the cars were bought, according to police.
Mr. de Mello called the police operation “absurd and unnecessary” in a post on his official Facebook and Twitter accounts, and said that he has been cooperating with authorities since the start of the investigation. Mr. de Mello denied any wrongdoing.
Mr. de Mello was Brazil’s president from March 1990 to October 1992, when he was impeached due to corruption allegations. He was barred from politics for almost a decade before re-entering the scene in the 2000s and winning a senate seat in 2006.
“The [searches] are necessary to clarify the facts investigated under the [Supreme Court], and some were made to ensure the seizure of assets acquired through possible criminal activity, and to safeguard other relevant evidence that could be destroyed if it was not seized,” Brazil Attorney General Rodrigo Janot said in a statement.
In March, Mr. Janot asked the Supreme Court for permission to proceed with investigations against a number of politicians, including the heads of both chambers of Congress, as part of the corruption case known as “Operation Car Wash” because some funds were allegedly laundered through a service station. Under Brazilian law, only the Supreme Court can try politicians.
Brazil Senate President Renan Calheiros and Chamber of Deputies President Eduardo Cunha have both denied any wrongdoing. Tuesday’s seizures didn’t target either leader, police said.
Brazilian authorities last year uncovered what they allege is a decadelong corruption scheme that touched the highest levels of business and government. Prosecutors allege that the nation’s largest construction firms inflated the prices of Petrobras contracts by billions of dollars, kicking some of their ill-gotten gains to company insiders and politicians. Some of the accused have denied the allegations, and some are cooperating with prosecutors. Petrobras has said it was a victim of the scheme and is cooperating with authorities.
