Overview

• Receita Federal launched Operação Cadeia de Carbono, conducting simultaneous fiscal diligences at 11 targets across Alagoas, Amapá, Paraíba, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
• Two shiploads bound for Rio de Janeiro valued at about R$240 million were retained, with one vessel already at the Port of Rio and a second tracked off Espírito Santo after advance clearance in Alagoas.
• Investigators suspect the use of shell companies and complex contractual chains to hide real beneficiaries and money flows linked to money laundering, foreign-exchange evasion and tax fraud, with names withheld to protect the probe.
• Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said a new instruction will tighten import controls by curbing advance customs clearance in one port followed by unloading in another and by closing loopholes used to avoid inspection.
• The operation mobilized about 80 personnel, a helicopter and 20 vehicles, includes forensic verification with the Mines and Energy Ministry, coordinates with the Judiciary for retention measures, and will feed a new anti-fraud nucleus with Receita and Federal Police.