Brazil’s Federal Police have arrested the former general coordinator of Inspection at the federal tax office, Marcelo Fisch, and his wife, Mariangela Defeo Menezes, for taking bribes in bids and contracts at the Mint.

The Mint is a company that makes seals and tax control stamps for the beverage and cigarette sectors, respectively. Both arrests were made in the federal capital of Brasilia.

The main target was Marcelo Fisch. He headed up inspection at the tax authority for six years. And it was under him that the first contract allegedly awarded to a company involved in the scam was signed.

Since then, the police have been investigating how the money from these kickbacks was laundered. Fisch and his wife have been indicted and accused of taking and paying kickbacks. In July last year he and the other suspects had their assets seized by order of the Federal Court.

The focus of the contract being investigated the Beverage Production Control System, down as Sicobe. Fisch was one of those responsible for hiring the company Sicpa, which in 2008 signed its first contract, without a bid being made, for Sicobe, effective from 2009, when he was still the coordinator general of inspection.

According to the investigations, in 2009, his wife, Mariangela, opened a company called MDI Consultoria em Gestão de Pessoas LTDA. US $ 15 million in transfers made to MDI was made by another consulting firm, based in the USA, and that is allegedly owned by a representative of Sicpa which has other contracts with the Mint which are also being investigated.

In February 2015, when Jorge Rachid took over again at the tax authority, Fisch was made head of the Special Fiscal Controls Division at Coordination General of Inspection.