Brazil judge keeps Cisco suspects in custody

Legal World

A Brazilian judge has extended a term of temporary custody for six people connected with Cisco, the US technology giant accused of tax fraud, and imprisoned a further three people accused of involvement in the alleged scheme.

Some 40 people were arrested on October 16 after a two-year investigation involving police, public prosecutors and tax authorities. A former president and three serving senior executives of Cisco in Brazil, including its president, were held for five days. The former president was among six people retained in custody after the initial period and is among those held again on Friday.

Authorities say Cisco and its agents constructed a complex system of real and phantom companies to avoid import duties and other taxes amounting to R$1.5bn over the past five years. Cisco said it did not believe its employees had acted inappropriately and was co-operating with investigations.

In addition to Cisco executives, those arrested included employees of Cisco's main distributor in Brazil and of companies based at a technology park in Brazil's north-east. Also arrested were customs agents and tax inspectors.

Brazil, which is considered a key emerging market for Cisco along with Russia, India and China, accounts for about 1 per cent of Cisco's overall business, according to the company.

Officials said that over the past five years about 50 tonnes of goods had been imported each month under the alleged scheme at a declared total value of $500m. They said initial estimates put the amount of tax evaded at about R$1.5bn.

Related listings

  • Former Haitai Group CEO Found Guilty

    Former Haitai Group CEO Found Guilty

    Legal World 10/27/2007

    A former business leader was found guilty Monday of embezzling corporate funds. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Kun-bae, a former chief administrator of Haitai Group, to an eighteen month prison term.. Park was indicted last November ...

  • Italian court drops murder case against US soldier

    Italian court drops murder case against US soldier

    Legal World 10/25/2007

    Italian court has dropped a case against a U.S. soldier for killing an Italian intelligence agent at a check-point in Iraq on the grounds that it does not have jurisdiction, lawyers said on Thursday. U.S. soldier Mario Lozano was being tried in absen...

  • Russia's 'Chessboard Killer' Found Guilty of 48 Murders

    Russia's 'Chessboard Killer' Found Guilty of 48 Murders

    Legal World 10/24/2007

    Former supermarket worker Alexander Pichushkin confessed to killing 63 people with the goal of marking each death on a chessboard, which has 64 squares.Prosecutors last month charged him with 49 murders committed between 2001 and 2006 in a park on th...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read