by Rodrigo Borges Carneiro
July 02, 2004
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Following a high-tech surveillance operation, the Brazilian police have arrested businessman Law Kin Chong and his lawyer Perdo Lindolfo Sarlo. The pair is accused of offering a $1.5 million bribe to Luiz Antonio de Medeiros, the reporting congressman of the Congressional Anti-piracy Committee. Law has been under investigation by the committee for two months for allegedly allowing the sale of counterfeit products in the 600 stores located in the three shopping malls that he owns.
It seems that, prior to the arrests, Medeiros contacted the police to inform them that he was approached by Law and Sarlo, who offered him $1.5 million to erase any mention of Law in the committee’s final report. The police instructed Medeiros to set up a meeting with the two men to gather evidence of the proposal. Sarlo arrived alone, and offered Medeiros $75,000 as a down payment on the deal. Sarlo was arrested on the spot, and Law was arrested shortly thereafter.
A statement issued by another of Law’s lawyers alleges that (i) there was no evidence to arrest Law, and (ii) the whole operation was a set-up by the congressman. Law has now been jailed for corruption, and all his business activities in Brazil are subject to a criminal investigation. Naturally this incident has raised expectations as to the content of the committee’s final report.