Brazilian police have arrested the ruling party’s leader in the senate and the head of Latin America’s biggest independent investment bank as part of a corruption investigation.
Banker André Esteves, the billionaire CEO and controlling shareholder of BTG Pactual SA, was arrested at his home in Rio de Janeiro.
Meanwhile in Brasilia, police arrested a ruling Workers’ party senator, Delcídio do Amaral, 60, a veteran lawmaker who runs the senate’s economic affairs committee and has been key to Dilma Rousseff’s efforts to impose austerity measures.
Brazil’s currency fell more than 2% on Wednesday as the corruption scandal centred on state-run oil firm Petrobras threatened Rousseff’s fragile coalition in Congress.
Amaral is among 50 Brazilian politicians under investigation for allegedly taking bribes in the kickback scandal. His arrest caused national shock – it is the first ever for a sitting senator in the country.
BTG Pactual confirmed the arrest of its chief executive and said the bank would cooperate with the investigation.
Antônio Carlos de Almeida Castro, a lawyer representing Esteves, said the banker “certainly” had not acted to obstruct the investigation.
via The Guardian
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Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
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