Mar 30, 2022
Pictet’s Offices Searched as Part of Petrobras Probe
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- The offices of Banque Pictet & Cie were searched by Swiss prosecutors in recent weeks as part of an investigation into its role in the sprawling Petrobras scandal that was opened in December.
No details of what, if any, evidence was seized during this month’s search were given in a statement by the Swiss Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday. The probe is against a Geneva bank, one unnamed individual and a number of “persons unknown” on suspicion of bribery of a public official and aggravated money laundering, the attorney general’s office said.
Though the statement did not name the bank that was searched, a person familiar with the matter confirmed it to be Pictet. News of the office search was reported earlier Wednesday by Le Temps.
Pictet engaged with Swiss banking regulator Finma on “this topic in 2014 following an internal review and resolved it with the regulator in 2015,” a bank spokesman said, adding that the matter relates to events that occurred more than a decade ago.
Brazilian, U.S. and Swiss investigators have spent more than a decade looking into how construction company Odebrecht SA executives paid massive bribes to secure contracts from Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the country’s state-controlled oil producer. The funds in many cases ended up in Swiss bank accounts, and more than 30 related criminal investigations remain open there.
Read More: Swiss Order $8 Million Forfeiture Linked to Petrobras Middleman
Former Swiss Attorney-General Michael Lauber called it “one of the most complex” cases his office ever dealt with and enlisted the help of Finma and the Swiss Federal Police to investigate the scandal which has also involved other Swiss banks. At least $700 million of assets held in those Swiss accounts has been frozen over the years with the funds being returned to Brazil in stages when the cases were closed.
The suspected offenses announced on Wednesday are being investigated in Switzerland under Article 102 of the Swiss Criminal Code which allow an institution to be investigated and charged if the crimes cannot be attributed to specific individuals.
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