Investigation Sees Evidence That Paulo Preto Is Hiding His Assets

He is accused of hiding real estate properties bought during his time at Dersa under a fake company

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Wálter Nunes Felipe Bächtold
São Paulo

Paulo Souza, aka Paulo Preto, currently under investigation of aiding PSDB politicians in corruption schemes in São Paulo, created a fake company to register real estate properties and a boat. Investigators say this was a move to hide the assets from the government.

Paulo Vieira de Souza, known as Paulo Preto
Paulo Vieira de Souza, known as Paulo Preto - Sergio Lima/Folhapress

​Paulo Preto directed Dersa, a state agency responsible for managing São Paulo state roads, from 2005 to 2010, and was arrested on Tuesday (19th) under Operation Car Wash. State attorneys who froze his three bank accounts expecting to find R$ 100 million (US$ 27 million) only found R$ 396.75 (US$ 98.69).

A company called P3T Empreendimentos, founded in late 2014 by him and his ex-wife, absorbed the financial assets.  The state attorneys think that Paulo Preto helped construction company Odebrecht to pay kickbacks to politicians and Petrobras executives. His defense team had no comment. 

Translated by NATASHA MADOV
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