Source: THE AS­SO­CI­AT­ED PRESS

Brazil ‘s fed­er­al po­lice said Wednes­day they are in­ves­ti­gat­ing a scheme that di­vert­ed over 6 bil­lion reais (US$1.05 bil­lion) from pen­sions paid by the Na­tion­al So­cial Se­cu­ri­ty In­sti­tute.

The probe tar­gets 11 or­ga­ni­za­tions that op­er­at­ed be­tween 2019 and 2024, au­thor­i­ties told re­porters. The scheme had re­tirees list­ed as mem­bers of as­so­ci­a­tions that col­lect­ed part of their month­ly pen­sions as fees for the or­ga­ni­za­tions. How­ev­er, the re­tirees had nev­er joined such as­so­ci­a­tions nor au­tho­rized the de­duc­tions.

As part of the probe, the pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al So­cial Se­cu­ri­ty In­sti­tute, Alessan­dro Ste­fanut­to, and oth­er di­rec­tors were re­moved from their po­si­tions. The so­cial se­cu­ri­ty of­fice did not im­me­di­ate­ly re­spond to a re­quest for com­ment by The As­so­ci­at­ed Press.

Fed­er­al po­lice said they seized on Tues­day 1 bil­lion reais (US$175.8 mil­lion) in as­sets and al­so is­sued ar­rest war­rants for six peo­ple: three were ar­rest­ed and three are still at large.

It was not im­me­di­ate­ly known who the ar­rest­ed per­sons were.

If the probe finds enough ev­i­dence, those in­ves­ti­gat­ed could face cor­rup­tion charges, as well as charges of breach­ing se­cre­cy, forg­ing doc­u­ments, set­ting up a crim­i­nal or­ga­ni­za­tion and mon­ey laun­der­ing. —SAO PAULO (AP)