Brazilian ex-billionaire Eike Batista surrenders

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AFP Rio De Janeiro
Last Updated : Jan 30 2017 | 7:22 PM IST
Brazil's onetime richest man, Eike Batista, surrendered to police today 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 symbolised 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.

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First Published: Jan 30 2017 | 7:22 PM IST

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