Youssef paid bribes to tax officials in São Paulo.

At least R$ 35 million was paid in bribes to tax inspectors of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) between 2006 and 2012, with the participation of money launderer Alberto Youssef, arrested in Operation Lava Jato, which investigates corruption at Petrobras, according to the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo (MP-SP) and the General Administration Inspectorate (CGA), which launched Operation Zinabre yesterday morning (24), in which five state tax inspectors were arrested.

Ten search and seizure warrants and seven arrest warrants were issued by the court as a result of the investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office, which began four months ago with the testimony of Alberto Youssef during Operation Lava Jato. He reported his participation in the fraudulent scheme involving tax inspectors. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the money launderer said he was hired by one of the companies to deliver money to the beneficiaries of the bribes.

Five tax auditors from the São Paulo State Treasury Department were arrested in the city of Sorocaba, in the Vale do Paraíba region of the interior of São Paulo state, and in Mato Grosso do Sul. Approximately R$ 58 were seized from the suspects' residences, in addition to documents and computers.

The fraud occurred when an inspector presented the company with infraction notices imposing multimillion-dollar fines and demanded bribes to reduce the amount of the fine. Prosecutor Arthur Pinto de Lemos Jr., from the Special Group for Economic Crimes (Gedec), explained that the fine would be reduced from R$ 1 billion to R$ 900.

“The damage caused by this organization is immeasurable,” stated prosecutor Roberto Bodini, also from Gedec. “We trust that the analysis of the [seized] documentation will show us much more regarding the organization of this criminal group,” he added. So far, only two companies have been identified as being involved in the scheme, but the Public Prosecutor's Office believes there are others. The prosecutors emphasized that the companies were victims and that the bribes were a requirement of the inspectors.

While the Public Prosecutor's Office and the police were executing the arrest and search warrants, the CGA (General Comptroller's Office) carried out investigations at the workplaces of the tax revenue agents. Evidence was seized at the tax offices in Guarulhos, Santo André, Osasco, São Bernardo do Campo, as well as at the Regional Tax Office and the tax offices in Sorocaba and Taubaté.