Image copyright EPA Image caption Eike Batista was initially taken to the Ary Franco prison in Rio de Janeiro

Former Brazilian oil and mining tycoon Eike Batista has been transferred to a high security prison in Rio de Janeiro after being arrested on arrival from New York.

Once Brazil's richest man, he has been accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure contracts with Rio's state government.

Mr Batista has denied any wrongdoing.

He has promised to help the authorities in their efforts to tackle corruption which he says is widespread in Brazil.

Before boarding the plane and turning himself in to police, Mr Batista said he was returning to Brazil to clear his name.

"I'm at the disposal of the courts," he told O Globo newspaper in New York. "As a Brazilian, I am doing my duty."

Under Brazilian law, Mr Batista would have been sent to a special prison wing if he had a university degree.

But as he dropped out before finishing his engineering degree in Germany, he will be serving time in an ordinary cell with six other inmates at the Bangu penitentiary.

Many Brazilian jails are overcrowded and controlled by criminal gangs.

The authorities in Rio say, however, that is not the case at Bangu.

German passport

Mr Batista was met by police as he landed in Rio on Monday morning.

He was escorted off the plane and initially taken to the Ary Franco prison in Rio.

After undergoing medical exams and having his hair cut short, he was transferred to the high security prison in the outskirts of the city.

Mr Batista was declared a fugitive by Brazilian officials after police raided his estate in Rio de Janeiro last week and found he had left for New York just hours earlier.

BBC South America business correspondent Daniel Gallas says there was much speculation on whether Mr Batista would return to Brazil or use his German passport to flee to Europe.

Who is Eike Batista?

Image copyright AFP

Seen by many as the face of Brazilian capitalism

Bold, extravagant and charismatic, he made most of his fortune during the commodities boom that brought great wealth to Brazil

Listed in 2012 by Forbes Magazine as the world's seventh-richest man, with an estimated fortune of $35bn

His Grupo EBX conglomerate spanned mining, oil, shipbuilding and logistics

After EBX collapsed following a crash in demand for commodities, his wealth slumped to under $1bn (£800m)

But Mr Batista said the trip to New York was not an attempt on his part to flee justice.

He is now due to be questioned about his alleged involvement in a corruption ring involving powerful business people and influential politicians in Rio de Janeiro state.

Investigators accuse Mr Batista of paying the then-governor of the state, Sergio Cabral, $16.5m (£13.2m) in bribes to win government contracts.

Mr Cabral was arrested in November as part of a larger corruption investigation dubbed Operation Car Wash.

As a result of Operation Car Wash, more than 100 people, including Brazil's most powerful building tycoon, Marcelo Odebrecht, have been convicted of crimes such as bribery, racketeering and money-laundering.</s>RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil´s onetime richest man, Eike Batista, surrendered to police on Monday after flying back to Rio de Janeiro to face bribery and other corruption charges, Globo television reported.

Live footage on Globo showed Batista being taken from a plane arriving from New York to a black SUV. The car, accompanied by a police escort, then drove into Rio, where Batista was expected to undergo medical exams.

Batista, 60, is alleged to have paid a $16.5 million bribe to former Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral, who is already behind bars.

The cross-border police agency Interpol last week issued a "red notice" alert for Batista after Brazilian police searched the oil and mining magnate´s home over the corruption accusations.

Batista, who reached number seven on Forbes magazine´s world richest people list in 2012, once vowed to become the world´s wealthiest person. He was said to be worth $30 billion in 2011, but his fortune largely evaporated when his oil company OGX collapsed in 2013.

The brash tycoon symbolized Brazil´s surging rise in economic power under then-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But his downfall now represents a new landmark in a series of sprawling but interconnected corruption scandals enveloping much of Brazil´s elite, including Lula himself.

Ex-Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista surrenders to Rio police was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 31, 2017 and was last updated on January 31, 2017. This news story is related to Print/182954-Ex-Brazilian-billionaire-Eike-Batista-surrenders-to-Rio-police/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Ex-Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista surrenders to Rio police" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/182954-Ex-Brazilian-billionaire-Eike-Batista-surrenders-to-Rio-police.</s>Brazilian businessman Eike Batista to turn himself in

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian businessman who was once one of the world's richest people says he will turn himself in to face corruption charges.

Speaking from John F. Kennedy airport in New York late Sunday, Eike Batista told Brazilian television program Fantastico that he was returning to Rio de Janeiro. His American Airlines flight was set to arrive in Rio late Monday morning.

On Thursday, police issued an arrest warrant and went to the businessman's home in Rio. However, he was not there.

Batista is wanted for allegedly paying bribes to former Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Sergio Cabral, apparently to gain advantage in landing government contracts. In the interview, Batista declined to comment on the charges. He says he is returning, in his words, "to help clean things up."</s>Former billionaire Eike Batista arrives to the Ary Franco prison in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 30, 2017. — Reuters picRIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 30 — Fallen tycoon Eike Batista, who personified Brazil’s economic boom and once boasted he’d become the world’s richest man, was arrested today at Rio de Janeiro’s airport after returning to face corruption charges.

Batista, who rose to become his country’s wealthiest person and number seven in the world, with a fortune of US$34.5 billion reported by Bloomberg in 2012, flew in from New York and walked immediately to a waiting police SUV.

The 60-year-old former oil and mining magnate is alleged to have paid a US$16.5 million bribe to ex-Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral, who is already behind bars for allegedly taking bribes over World Cup and Olympics infrastructure projects.

As a brash, big-spending entrepreneur with a playboy lifestyle, Batista symbolized Brazil’s surge to economic power under then-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His downfall now represents a new landmark in a series of sprawling but interconnected corruption scandals enveloping much of Brazil’s elite, including Lula himself.

Demonstrating the judiciary’s resolve in that campaign, Supreme Court President Carmen Lucia today said she would allow the use of testimony by executives from the Odebrecht construction company in a massive bribery and embezzlement case centred on state oil company Petrobras.

The construction executives gave a mountain of what is expected to be politically explosive evidence as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors probing the Petrobras scandal. The contents of the evidence remains secret, but leaks have pointed to current President Michel Temer being implicated.

For Brazilians sick of top-to-bottom corruption in Latin America’s biggest economy, every high-profile development in the anti-corruption fight is a cause to cheer.

Globo television broadcast extensive live coverage of Batista’s arrival on a commercial flight from New York and his transfer under escort to a medical centre to undergo exams.

He was then sent next to the Ary Franco prison in Rio which, like many in Brazil, is seriously overcrowded. It was not clear yet whether the ex-billionaire would get any special privileges.

The cross-border police agency Interpol last week issued a “red notice” alert for Batista after Brazilian police searched the tycoon’s home in Rio.

Late yesterday he told Globo television from JFK airport in New York that he had decided to fly back voluntarily.

“I am returning to respond to the judiciary, as is my duty,” he said, promising to “clear things up.”

A former speedboat racer who reached seventh place on Forbes magazine’s rich list in 2012 and even vowed to become the world’s richest person, Batista indulged heavily in his taste for the high life. He had a palatial Rio residence and loved showing off his US$500,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, planes and a helicopter.

But his empire, boosted by billions of dollars in loans from the Brazilian national development bank, was hit by plunging commodity prices and abruptly unravelled with the collapse of his oil company OGX in 2013.

Batista’s disgrace illustrates the seemingly bottomless pit of corruption scandals bringing down Brazil’s rich and powerful.

At the epicentre is the Petrobras scandal in which executives and politicians collaborated to embezzle from the oil company and exchange sweetheart contracts for bribes — paid both to individual politicians and to political parties.

Already the roster of the accused or charged reads like a Who’s Who of the Brazilian establishment, including Lula, major senators and the former speaker of the lower house of Congress.

A new wave of allegations is expected to emerge from the Odebrecht testimony, likened by analysts to a ticking bomb. Among those being fingered by executives in their plea bargain testimony, Brazilian media reports say, is President Temer who allegedly took millions of dollars in illegal donations.

The Supreme Court president’s decision to accept the Odebrecht testimony was seen as an important reaffirmation of the judiciary’s determination to pursue the case after the death in a plane crash this month of the court justice, Teori Zavascki, who had been overseeing the matter. — AFP</s>SÃO PAULO—Brazilian businessman Eike Batista turned himself in to police Monday morning in Rio de Janeiro following his return from New York City, four days after an arrest warrant was issued for the former billionaire.

The entrepreneur was arrested at Rio´s Galeão airport and will be taken immediately for a medical exam and then to a local...</s>Rio de Janeiro — Once Brazil’s richest man, Eike Batista surrendered to police on Monday after flying back to Rio de Janeiro to face bribery and other corruption charges, Globo television reported.

Live footage on Globo showed Batista being taken from an aircraft arriving from New York to a black sport utility vehicle. The car, accompanied by a police escort, then drove into Rio, where Batista was expected to undergo medical exams.

Batista is alleged to have paid a $16.5m bribe to former Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral, who is already behind bars.</s>Brazil's Batista headed back to Rio to face charges on Monday

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Former billionaire Eike Batista, once Brazil's richest man, is scheduled to arrive in Rio de Janeiro early on Monday, where he is wanted by police in connection with charges including an alleged bribe of about $16 million to a former governor.

"I am returning to answer to the courts, as is my duty," Batista said in a brief interview with Brazil's Globo television network at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. "It's time for me to clear this up."

Batista, a brash entrepreneur who became the face of Brazil's fizzled commodities boom, had been sought since last week by Brazilian police, who raided his Rio mansion and confiscated his luxury cars as part of their bribery investigation.

Since the raid, a Brazilian judge has declared him a fugitive and requested his name be added to a wanted list maintained by Interpol, the international police agency. Local media speculated whether Batista, who also holds a German passport, would seek to evade justice.

In the Globo interview, Batista said he never intended to flee and had been in New York on business. Batista declined to answer the reporter's question about whether he considered himself guilty or innocent.

Just five years ago, Batista, now 60, was calculated to have a net worth exceeding $30 billion and was considered among the world's 10 richest people. A former wildcat gold miner, he attracted ravenous demand for shares in his mining and energy ventures.

With the decline in oil and mineral prices in recent years, Brazil entered a recession, and Batista's empire evaporated. As the bonanza faded, investigators in Brazil discovered huge amounts of corruption around many major projects of the boom years.

Starting with a probe into kickbacks around state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, the investigation shed light on a culture of bribery among government officials, politicians and many big companies, especially engineering, energy and infrastructure groups reliant on public licenses and contracts.

Police said last week that Batista had paid roughly $16 million to former Rio Governor Sergio Cabral in exchange for support of the businessman's many Rio-based endeavors. Cabral, who resigned from office in 2014, has been jailed since last year for a series of other major corruption charges.

Batista checked in on an American Airlines flight scheduled to land at 10:30 a.m. Rio time. (Reporting by Paulo Prada; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Peter Cooney)</s>Fallen tycoon Eike Batista, who personified Brazil's economic boom and once aimed to be the world's richest man, had his head shaved and was incarcerated Monday after surrendering to face corruption charges.

[RIO DE JANEIRO] Fallen tycoon Eike Batista, who personified Brazil's economic boom and once aimed to be the world's richest man, had his head shaved and was incarcerated Monday after surrendering to face corruption charges.

Batista, who rose to become his country's wealthiest person and number seven in the world, with a fortune of US$34.5 billion reported by Bloomberg in 2012, flew in from New York and walked immediately to a waiting police SUV.

The 60-year-old former oil and mining magnate is alleged to have paid a US$16.5 million bribe to ex-Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral, already behind bars for allegedly taking bribes over World Cup and Olympics infrastructure projects.

As a brash, big-spending entrepreneur with a playboy lifestyle, Batista symbolized Brazil's surge to economic power under then-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

His downfall represents a new landmark in a series of sprawling but interconnected corruption scandals enveloping much of Brazil's elite, including Lula himself.

Globo television broadcast extensive live coverage of Batista's return to the country.

He was sent first to the Ary Franco prison in Rio, which like many in Brazil is seriously overcrowded, before transferring to the much bigger Bangu complex.

Many corruption suspects in Brazil benefit from a law that puts people with university diplomas in better conditions.

However, Batista never graduated, meaning he should experience the gritty - sometimes dangerous - reality facing ordinary Brazilian detainees. Television footage showed that he had his head shaved before arriving in Bangu.

Police first came knocking at Batista's luxury Rio home last week. The cross-border police agency Interpol issued a "red notice" alert when it emerged he was abroad.

Late Sunday, he told Globo television from Kennedy International Airport in New York that he had decided to fly back voluntarily.

"I am returning to respond to the judiciary, as is my duty," he said, promising to "clear things up."

A former speedboat racer who reached seventh place on Forbes magazine's rich list in 2012 and even vowed to eventually become the world's richest person, Batista indulged heavily in his taste for the high life.

He had a palatial Rio residence and loved showing off his US$500,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, planes and a helicopter.

But his empire, boosted by billions of dollars in loans from the Brazilian national development bank, was hit by plunging commodity prices and abruptly unravelled with the collapse of his oil company OGX in 2013.

These are nervous days for Brazil's once untouchable elite.

Demonstrating the judiciary's resolve Monday, Supreme Court President Carmen Lucia confirmed she would allow the use of testimony by executives from the Odebrecht construction company in a massive bribery and embezzlement case centered on state oil company Petrobras.

The construction executives gave a mountain of what is expected to be politically explosive evidence as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

The contents of the evidence remain secret, but leaks have pointed to current President Michel Temer being accused of taking millions of dollars in illegal donations.

Already the roster of the accused or charged in the Petrobras case reads like a Who's Who of the Brazilian establishment, also including Lula, major senators and the former speaker of the lower house of Congress.

The Supreme Court president's decision to accept the testimony was seen as an important reaffirmation of the judiciary's determination to pursue the case after the death in a plane crash this month of Teori Zavascki, the court justice who had been overseeing the matter.</s>RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A businessman who was once one of the world’s richest people returned to Brazil on Monday to face corruption charges and was taken into police custody.

Federal police said Eike Batista was detained when he landed in Rio de Janeiro and was undergoing medical tests to ensure he is in good health. He would then be taken to jail.

In an interview with Brazilian TV, Batista said he was returning “to help clean things up.” He declined to comment on the charges.

“I am returning to respond to the justice system, as is my duty,” he said while waiting for his flight Sunday night at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

Once Brazil’s richest man, Batista is accused of paying bribes to former Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Sergio Cabral, apparently to gain advantage in landing government contracts.

Police sought to arrest Batista at his home in Rio on Thursday, but arrived to find he wasn’t there. Batista had flown to New York earlier in the week.

The warrant for Batista was one of nine issued Thursday in connection with an investigation into the laundering and hiding of about $100 million in foreign bank accounts. Prosecutors allege that nearly $80 million of that belonged to Cabral, who is facing several corruption charges and was jailed last year.

Prosecutors told reporters that Batista paid $16.5 million to Cabral in foreign bank accounts. Officials were investigating what the alleged payment was for.

Batista is best known for amassing and then losing a multibillion-dollar fortune, a trajectory that was widely seen as a symbol of Brazil’s own. After years of surging growth, Brazil is now in a protracted economic recession.

In 2011, Batista was the world’s eighth-richest person, according to Forbes magazine. By 2013, his fortune had crumbled amid debts in his various energy sector companies.

Comments

 WTOP is now using Facebook as our comment platform. Need help? Email us</s>Eike Batista, a former Brazilian oil and mining magnate, has been transferred to a high security prison in Rio following his arrival from New York on Monday morning.

The 60-year-old, who was Brazil's richest man once had reportedly paid a $16.5m (£13.2m) bribe to former Rio De Janeiro governor Sergio Cabral to secure contracts with the state government. Cabral was arrested in November in a corruption probe named Operation Car Wash.

At least 100 people including building tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht have been convicted for racketeering, money laundering and bribery, in the operation.

Before boarding a plane at New York to turn himself in, Batista told O Globo that he was surrendering to clear his name.

"I'm at the disposal of the courts. As a Brazilian, I am doing my duty," he said. He was first sent to Ary Franco prison in Rio, which is said to be severely crowded and filthy. After taking medical tests and shaving his head, he was later transferred to the much bigger Bangu complex.

Suspects of corruption benefit from a Brazilian law that puts university degree holders in better jail cells than those without a degree. As Batista dropped out of engineering college in Germany and never graduated, he will serve his sentence in an ordinary cell with six other inmates at the Bangu complex.

He was declared a fugitive after Rio police raided his residence last week and found that he had left for New York just hours earlier. He will also be questioned about his alleged involvement in a corruption ring with links to some of the most powerful businessmen and politicians of Rio De Janeiro.
Brazilian police arrest EBX Group CEO Eike Batista for allegedly bribing officials in Rio de Janeiro, including former Governor of Rio de Janeiro Sérgio Cabral Filho.