Brazilian prosecutors have charged David Muino Suarez, a relationship manager at Swiss bank BSI SA, with laundering $21.7 million in illicit cash for Brazilian clients involved in the country's largest corruption scandal, Reuters reported Dec. 20.
Suarez, who was arrested at a Sao Paolo airport on Nov. 27, is alleged to have been aware of an illegal financial operation, dubbed the Car Wash, involving former lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha and is said to have provided false information to BSI's compliance office regarding the matter. Cunha has been sentenced to 15 years in prison over his role in the scheme.
Prosecutors say Suarez knew that the money he handled came from bribes paid to Cunha and Pedro Bastos, a former executive at oil company Petrobras, from an oil field acquisition in Benin in 2011. Representatives for Suarez were unavailable to comment on how Suarez has reacted to the charges.
BSI is now owned by EFG International AG.