Brazilian members denounce in Brazil that diverted resources from the Venezuelan PDVSA

The Brazilian Prosecutor's Office today filed a criminal complaint against four people accused of integrating a corruption network that diverted close to 100 million (about 31.2 million dollars) of a subsidiary in Brazil of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

Rio de Janeiro, Nov 14 (EFE) .- The Brazilian Prosecutor's Office today filed a criminal complaint against four people accused of integrating a corruption network that diverted close to 100 million (some 31.2 million dollars) from a subsidiary in Brazil of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

The four people investigated by the so-called "Operation Venezuelan Connection" were formally accused of crimes of association to commit crimes, corruption in international commercial transactions and money laundering, according to a statement released today by the Ministry Federal Public.

The indictment was filed before the seventh federal court of Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (southern Brazil), which last September ordered the Federal Police the preventive detention of all those involved and the registration of their property to collect evidence.

According to the investigation carried out jointly by the Office of the Prosecutor, the Federal Police and the Tax Administration, the defendants exported agricultural machines to Venezuela with prices well above their commercial values.

For guaranteeing such contracts with inflated prices, the defendants, according to the prosecution, paid high bribes to the representatives of the Venezuelan state oil company in Brazil.

The payments of The alleged bribes were disguised as commissions for consulting services that were never provided.

Part of the money generated by the deviations stayed in Brazil and another part It was sent to companies located in tax havens, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

The criminal organization began to be investigated after the Federal Administration of Taxes, the collecting entity, will identify legal entities in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Sao Paulo that made millions of "atypical" financial transactions.