First Petrobras Indictment Filed in Long-Running Swiss Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland’s top prosecutor filed its first indictment against an individual in the long-running Petrobras-Odebrecht corruption scandal, charging the unidentified person with bribing foreign public officials and money laundering.

The case against the person of Swiss-Brazilian origin is being run using an accelerated procedure at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, the Attorney General’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

While the fast-tracking of this first indictment is a sign of progress, the Swiss probe into how money siphoned from Brazil’s national oil producer ended up in Swiss banks is only just warming up. Swiss prosecutors are investigating around 70 criminal cases including at least two local banks in the course of a probe that has already seen 700 million Swiss francs ($708 million) seized in the Alpine nation.

The first indictment was secured with the help of Brazilian and Portuguese prosecutors, the Attorney General’s office said. The scandal which has ensnared business leaders and Brazil’s former president, is “among one of the most complex the OAG has ever dealt with,” the Swiss authority said in April.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Geneva at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman

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