The owner of Banco Safra in Brazil and the world's richest banker, Joseph Safra was charged by the Brazilian prosecutors over the bribery scheme involving his bank. Safra was found guilty in agreeing to pay more than $4 million in bribes to government officials in exchange for reducing his yearly penalties on unpaid taxes.
Safra, a popular billionaire who has an estimated net worth of $18.3bn (£12.8bn), also owns Gherkin, one of London's most visited skyscrapers. Prosecutors said Safra was aware of the bribe money that the Banco Safra executives gave to federal tax auditors. According to Stuff, Safra's executives paid R$15. 3 million (NZ$6. 2 million) in bribes to settle Safra's unpaid taxes in 2014. The accusations were allegedly traced on the phone conversation of Banco Safra executive Joao Inácio Puga and tax officials.
"He [Puga] limited himself to negotiating, interacting with the other people under investigation," the prosecutors said of the alleged scheme. "But the decisions were taken by [what Puga called] the 'staff', that is, Grupo Safra's majority shareholder and president, Joseph Y Safra. Therefore, Puga was Joseph's agent."
Brazilian authorities claimed that Safra didn't directly participated in the bribery scheme. However, based on the wired tapped phone conversation, Puga reported to Safra on the alleged bribery negotiation, Fox News reported. In response to the allegations, The Safra Group dismissed all the accusations. They said that the charges of the prosecutors were "unfounded." The charges to Safra follows Brazil's "Operation Zealots" that investigates companies that are allegedly involved in a bribery scheme.
"The allegations being promoted by a Brazilian prosecutor are unfounded. There have not been any improprieties by any of the businesses of The Safra Group. No representative of the group offered any inducement to any public official and the group did not receive any benefit in the judgement of the tribunal."
Safra and his family own Banco Safra, the 10th biggest bank in Brazil and several other private banks such as Switzerland's J Safra Sarasin. They also run the São Paulo-based bank as part of an international conglomerate operating in 19 countries. Safra's empire extends to banana production after he purchased 50% of Chiquita Brands in 2014. He is the second wealthiest person in Brazil after Jorge Paulo Lemann. The Guardian reported.
Brazil is a nation where corruption and bribery scheme among businesses are rampant. Apart from "Operation Zealots," Brazilian authorities are also following up on the corruption investigation of Petrobras known as the "Operation Carwash."
