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One hundred search-and-seizure warrants have been issued by the Brazilian federal police involving a probe into alleged fraud of a pension fund for post office workers.
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While no names were given in the police statement about the case, it detailed that the investigation included managers of the Postalis fund, executives at a foreign financial institution, risk-assessment firms and other companies, according to Reuters.
The statement noted that the premise of the investigation is based on “mismanagement, irregularities and improper application of Postalis funds. The federal police's mission is to investigate the criminal repercussions occasioned by this group of people as it pertains to the embezzlement of fund resources.”
It went on to accuse “private individuals, namely businessmen, who supposedly managed the pension fund, as well as directors of international financial institutions." Legal entities are also targets of the federal police, including businesses with shares in stock exchanges and risk assessment institutions.
An unnamed source identified the local unit of Bank of New York Mellon Corp as being one of the targets in the investigation, according to Reuters.
The operation, dubbed Pausare, involved 62 federal police teams and was carried out in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Alagoas, as well as the Federal District, according to Brasil 24/7.
Police officials claim that mismanagement and embezzlement of the Polis pension fund resulted in a deficit of approximately US$1.88 billion dollars. Consequently, the imbalance forced retirees and post office employees to have to increase their contribution to the pension fund.
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