Operation Poço de Lobato, launched by the Federal Revenue Service in partnership with other institutions, revealed a sophisticated scheme of tax evasion and money laundering in the fuel sector, causing monthly losses of R$350 million to public coffers. The operation is an offshoot of Operation Hidden Carbon, which had already identified the infiltration of organized crime in the sector.
In an interview with CNN Money, Emerson Kapaz, from the Instituto Combustível Legal (ICL), explains that the refinery investigated did not carry out the refinement process itself, but imported naphtha and sold it as diesel and gasoline.
Non-market impact
Kapaz highlights that the scheme harms the competitiveness of the sector, since companies that operate legally are unable to compete with lower prices charged by tax evaders, considering that the distributors’ margin varies between 3% and 5%.
For the institute, the operation represents a significant advance for the formal fuel market, even attracting the attention of international investors who see an improvement in the sector’s business environment. The expectation is that the market will have a greater volume of companies operating regularly, resulting in better revenue for States and the Union.
