Swiss Delegation Visits Brazil to Reinforce International Cooperation

In February 2003, the General Attorney of Switzerland, Valentin Roschacher, visit Brazil, accompanied by a delegation composed of members of the Public Prosecution and of the Federal Judiciary Police of Switzerland. It was the first stop of a trip which also had Colobia and Mexico as destinations. The purpose of this trip was to reinforce the international cooperation in the fight against organized crime, traffic of drugs, money laundering and corruption. According to information supplied matters forwarded by the three countries to Switzerland is growling. In Brazil, the Swiss delegation had meetings with the General Attorney of the Republic. In the meetings, information was exchanged on the structure, operation and the legal fundaments of the work of the authorities of both countries. According to the participants of such meetings, they were very useful to consolidate a relation of trust between Brazil and Switzerland and was an additional step towards the closeness of the relations between both countries. This step is very important to expedite the exchange of information of some proceedings which are being investigated by the authorities of both countries, as is the case of the tax inspectors of the States of Rio de Janeiro, who supposedly would have more than U.S. $33 million with suspicious origin deposited with banks in Switzerland and not declared to the Brazilian tax authorities.