• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Brazil police arrest bankers, politician in raids

Tue Jul 8, 2008 8:38am EDT

Stocks

   

SAO PAULO, July 8 (Reuters) - Brazilian banker Daniel Dantas, the head of the Opportunity financial group, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of money laundering and tax evasion related to a government bribery scandal, federal police said.

Stocks

Dantas was arrested in Rio de Janeiro in a series of raids in four states targeting a total of 24 people, police said. Investor Naji Nahas and former Sao Paulo Mayor Celso Pitta were also taken into custody.

Dantas was suspected of involvement in funneling money to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's party in a financial scandal that rocked his government during his first term that ended in 2006.

The Opportunity group used to control phone company Brasil Telecom BRTP4.SA with Citigroup (C.N) and Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI).

(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes, Writing by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Stuart Grudgings)

Stocks


More from Reuters

Photo

East Coast tunnels out from severe snowstorm

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Northeast began digging out on Sunday from a massive snowstorm that buried cities from Washington to Boston under as much as two feet of snow, creating travel chaos and hampering Christmas shopping. | Video

» More Top News
A woman shops at a Sam's Club store, a division of Wal-Mart Stores, in Bentonville, Arkansas June 4, 2009. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

The food-stamp economy

On the last day of every month, shoppers at Walmart load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. Is this the new normal in America?  Full Article 

U.S.
Two men shake hands in a file photo. REUTERS/File

Let's make a deal

The battered M&A sector will make a tepid recovery in the coming year and three hot sectors will lead the way, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis.  Full Article 

Global Deals Review