The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad (PT), stated this Thursday (26) that organized crime is using companies in the United States to launder money. The statement was made at the ministry’s door while the minister was commenting on Operation Poço de Lobato, which investigates fraud in the fuel sector and has the Refit Group as its main target.
“[Na operação] we mapped a strong movement of currency evasion. This went beyond national borders. Me and the minister [da Justiça Ricardo] Lewandowski conveyed to President Lula the need to address, in negotiations with the United States, the fight against organized crime, because they are using the state of Delaware, which is a tax haven, to set up currency evasion and money laundering operations,” said Haddad.
“There are dozens of companies and funds that are being opened outside Brazil. The scheme is: make a loan for these funds, which come back in the format of legal investment, but the money that goes there is not clean”, he stated.
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Haddad classified the scheme as a “very serious international triangulation” and commented on the need to open a work front with the US government to inhibit money laundering on American soil.
The minister, considered the largest ICMS debtor in São Paulo, to reinforce the importance of approval, by Congress, of the persistent debtor law. The proposal seeks to prevent companies from continuing to operate when they do not collect taxes. For Haddad, the project could be a means of stifling criminal organizations and combating organized crime effectively.
In addition to financial transactions, the IRS also identified weapons smuggling from the United States. “Weapons are arriving in Brazil in containers from there. I asked Barreirinhas [secretário da Receita] to prepare a report demonstrating that partnership is fundamental. If we want to prevent drugs from getting there, it is essential to inhibit crime in the territories, preventing weapons from reaching Brazil,” said Haddad.
