Brazil: Trafigura executive arrested for corruption

Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, an executive at Trafigura Group and a representative of Decal in Brazil was arrested by Federal Police at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo on Wednesday (26 Oct), from where he was due to fly to set off on a night flight to London. Accused of corruption and money laundering, he was ordered under arrest by Federal Judge Sérgio Moro as part of Operation Car Wash.

According to prosecutors, between 2011 and 2014, Ferraz paid $800,000 in kickbacks to Paulo Roberto Costa, then Petrobras Downstream director, for contracts with the oil company. The money was deposited to an offshore held by one of Costa's son-in-law.

In a statement, the MPF says there is documental proof of the payments to “confirm Costa's plea bargain statements that he received bribes from Ferraz for contracts with the state oil company.”

Also according to the MPF, Marcondes Ferraz, who is a Brazilian national, holds Italian citizenship. He works and lives abroad, “has a large amount of funds deposited outside Brazil”, and has not visited Brazil very often since Operation Car Wash began. Believing he might easily no longer come to Brazil, disrupting the investigation—and avoid serving his sentence in case of a conviction—the prosecutors filed for his preventive detention.

Translated by Mayra Borges