Former Rio governor involved in corruption, bribery scheme

The former governor of Rio de Janeiro state Sergio Cabral and his wife were involved in a major corruption and bribe-taking scheme, Federal prosecutors said Wednesday at a press conference.

The federal prosecution office detailed the corruption scheme that involved governmental contracts and construction companies.

According to the office, Cabral was the head of the scheme and took hefty bribes along with his wife, who was the lawyer of several governmental contractors.

Cabral, arrested in November for suspected corruption, bribe-taking, money laundering and embezzlement of public funds, and his accomplices operated a fraud in bidding processes and commanded a cartel in the state, authorities said.

The couple used jewelry buying to launder the funds taken from bribes. Investigators have managed to track over 7 million reals (2.12 million U.S. dollars) in fine jewelry owned by Cabral's wife Adriana Ancelmo, who was arrested on Tuesday for taking part in the scheme.

Cabral has denied buying that much jewelry, but authorities say they have insurance and other documents for at least 37 pieces amounting to 4.8 million reals (1.45 million U.S. dollars).

According to the police, Cabral embezzled some 224 million reals (about 66 million dollars) from large contracts of construction or renovation, such as the reform of the Maracana stadium.

During Cabral's administration, tax exemptions were granted abundantly, even to companies that had -- and have -- significant debt with the state government. Endi