Sao Paulo ex-mayor, Paulo Maluf, guilty of embezzlement
Picture taken on 10 September, 2001 of Paulo Salim Maluf, 70, former Sao Paulo mayor (1969-72 and 1993-96), whilst attending the third session of testimony before the Parliamentary Investigations Commission in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Maluf, who was under investigation accused of diverting some 130 million USD of public funds to a Swiss bank account, gave himself up to police 10 September, 2005 after a judge ordered his preventive detention.
One of Brazil's richest men, the former mayor of Sao Paulo, has been found guilty of stealing millions of dollars from public funds and diverting them to his offshore accounts in the tax haven of Jersey.
BBC reported a Jersey court ordered Paulo Maluf, a multimillionnaire businessman and serving congressman in the Brazilian parliament, to pay back $10.5m plus interest to the Sao Paulo authorities.
According to facts presented to the court, the 81-year-old made millions by issuing over-inflated invoices for a construction roadwork project in Sao Paulo during his time as mayor in the 1990s.
The Guardian reported Maluf and his son, Flavio, created a "slush fund" to hide the cash, which ended up in the accounts of two companies held with Deutsche Bank on the British tax haven island of Jersey.
Maluf denied the charges, and denied having any off-shore accounts.
He and his son were jailed for several weeks in 2005 for intimidating witnesses in a money laundering case against them.
The BBC said Maluf has also been indicted by a court in New York on money laundering charges.