Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) began in March 2014 as a small-scale probe into a gas service station in Brasilia being used to launder money. Police found that black-market money dealers were acting for a senior executive in Petrobras, the state oil company, and that the company had been deliberately overpaying contractors in exchange for a cut of up to five per cent on deals, which would be channelled into a secret slush fund.
How much is involved?
