Senate Bill No. 00046 of 02/26/2007, authored by Senator Álvaro Dias. (ARCHIVED)

Senate Bill No. 00046 of 02/26/2007

It establishes mechanisms to prevent the lotteries of Caixa Econômica Federal from being used for money laundering activities.

The National Congress decrees:

Article 1. The discounting of prizes from Caixa Econômica Federal lotteries at its branches is subject to the following procedures:

            I – When claiming the prize, the winner must first prove the origin of the funds used for their bets;

            II – The manager may only pay the prize after prior notification to the lottery center, as well as to COAF (Council for Financial Activities Control), with the withdrawal being blocked until information is received from the aforementioned bodies;

            III – Withdrawal is conditional upon full identification of the person making the withdrawal and verification of whether they have a criminal record, with notification to the civil police of each state where the branch is located.

            § 1) Caixa agencies must maintain a database of prize withdrawals for one year.

            § 2) The provisions of this article apply only to prize claimants who register more than 10 prizes to be redeemed simultaneously.

            § 3) Caixa Econômica Federal must verify the recurrence of withdrawals at branches where there is suspicion of money laundering in order to investigate this fact through an internal audit.

Article 2. This Law shall enter into force on the date of its publication.

Justification

One of the ways in which the process of "laundering" money of criminal origin may be occurring at Caixa Econômica Federal (Brazilian Federal Savings Bank) is as follows: the person interested in the criminal activity deposits the money in the branch where they have the scheme to "launder" the money, or is informed by someone at Caixa about the presence of a winner, in order to buy the ticket. The real winner of the prize goes to the branch to collect the prize. With the connivance of someone at the Caixa branch, possibly the manager, the prize is paid with the money of the person interested in "laundering." As the prize can be claimed up to 90 days after the draw, the Caixa agent, or the person interested in "laundering" the money, "holds" the winning tickets until they reach the amount of interest to the beneficiary of the "laundering." When this happens, the criminal goes to the Caixa branch and collects the winning tickets as if they were the winner. That is, at this moment, the branch informs the Caixa lottery center of the prize winner.

There are truly unacceptable and extremely suspicious cases where Caixa agents are involved in the operation, such as the case where a certain person claimed 107 prizes on the same day, with the prizes being from dates up to a month apart and in seven different lottery categories.

Within this context, an appreciation of the project proposed here becomes essential. The project's timeliness is particularly noteworthy at a time when society is debating how to control organized crime; dismantling criminal activities like this becomes crucial.

Session Room, February 26, 2007

Senator Álvaro Dias