Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 12 2023

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UK agency authorised to seize funds from

former Petrobras employee’s account

A London court has ruled that the UK govern-
ment’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is permit-
ted to seize the equivalent of nearly $8mn in
illicit cash linked to a wide-ranging corruption
scandal involving Brazil’s national oil company
(NOC) Petrobras.
After hearing both sides’ arguments, Judge
Briony Clarke delivered a written ruling on
March 17. She stated that the money that arrived
in the former Petrobras employee’s London
bank account had come from unlawful conduct
and could therefore be seized by the SFO.
The money, comprised of $7mn and
GBP700,000, was being held in the Lon-
don-based bank account of Mario Ildeu de
Miranda, a former Petrobras employee. SFO
had applied for permission to confiscate the
funds, which represent the largest single sum
ever seized from a single bank account. This is the largest sum ever seized by the SFO from a single account (File Photo)
Miranda was recently jailed in Brazil for
his involvement in Operation Car Wash, one had accepted from Odebrecht was a bribe. (The
of the longest-running corruption probes in company changed its name in 2020 to Novonor,
Brazil and the world. In 2019, the former Petro- as its previous name had become synonymous
bras employee was found guilty of 37 counts of with the Operation Car Wash scandal.)
money laundering, including one count related However, this defence strategy failed, and
to the receipt of $25mn from the Brazilian con- after Miranda’s sentencing, his lawyer Abdul-
struction company Novonor (formerly known lah Al-Yunusi told reporters that both he and
as Odebrecht), the SFO stipulated in court fil- Miranda were disappointed in the court’s rul-
ings earlier this month. ing. He also stated that Miranda’s legal team
In the filings, the office noted that Miranda was currently exploring multiple legal options,
had paid approximately $11.5mn to Petro- including an appeal.
bras employees upon receiving the funds. The After the court rules in SFO’s favour, the
71-year-old had then funnelled the remain- office’s director Lisa Osofsky said: “Over two
ing amount to bank accounts in the Bahamas, years, we unpicked a complex web of transac-
Malta, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates tions across the world – exposing Mr. Miranda’s
(UAE), it said. attempt to conceal criminal proceeds and ensur-
Initially, Miranda denied these claims, say- ing that the UK cannot be used as a hiding place
ing that he was not aware that the money he for criminal assets.” ™

Brazilian distributors introduce

new captive gas consumer tariff

BRAZIL’S domestic natural gas distributors This tariff, which is known by its Portu-
have started collecting a new captive consumer guese acronym TUSD, has been introduced in
distribution tariff that includes the cost of distri- response to the liberalisation of the Brazilian gas
bution and line expansions while also excluding market. These reforms were launched under the
gas prices and transportation costs, according to previous administration, led by President Jair
a report from Argus Media. Bolsonaro.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 22•March•2023