Head of International Volleyball Federation targeted by Brazilian fraud probe
SAO PAULO -- The president of the International Volleyball Federation is being investigated in his native Brazil as part of a wider fraud probe launched on Thursday.
Rio de Janeiro police and state prosecutors said in a
statement that Ary Graça, who has headed FIVB since 2012, and nine other people
are suspected of tax fraud, money laundering and identity fraud.
Investigators say Graça used money from a sponsorship deal
between Banco do Brasil and the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation to pay for
contracts with suspected shell companies in the city of Saquarema, outside Rio
de Janeiro. Graça was head of the Brazilian body until 2014.
A former mayor of the city was also charged.
Police said those companies belonged to officials of the
Brazilian Volleyball Confederation who had close connections with Graça.
Graça lives in Switzerland, where FIVB is based. The
federation said in a statement it is "aware and surprised by the situation
in Brazil," adding both Graça and its general director Fabio Azevedo, who
was also confirmed to be a target of the probe, "requested immediate
action from their lawyers to clarify what is clearly a misunderstanding."
"Both have strenuously denied the allegations made
against them in today's media coverage," the statement said.
Saquarema, a calm beach city of 90,000 residents, is where
the Brazilian national volleyball teams train before major events, including
the Tokyo Olympics.
Police said the contracts were "for unrendered
services, false subletting of commercial real estate and assets without
financial backing" and were worth a total of 52 million Brazilian reals
($10 million).
The Brazilian Volleyball Confederation said in a statement
that police showed up at their headquarters in Rio and at the training ground
in Saquarema.
"According to the investigation, the confederation
could have been a victim of its executives, which created false contracts to
divert funds from the institution," it said. "The current management
of the confederation will fully cooperate with the investigation and, if there
is proven financial damage, it will take every necessary measure to return
those amounts entirely to the volleyball community."
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