A judge in Brazil's northeastern Pernambuco state on Monday ordered the preventive arrest of Gusttavo Lima, one of the nation's biggest country music stars, in connection with a money laundering investigation.
The probe has already resulted in orders to arrest almost two dozen others, according to a decision made public on Monday by Judge Andrea Calada de Cruz. The judge said she was calling on Interpol to issue a red alert to apprehend four people still at large, noting that two of them traveled to Europe with Lima earlier this month and remained there.
Lima’s “connivance with fugitives not only compromises the integrity of the judicial system, but it also perpetuates impunity in a context of serious crime,” she wrote.
Lima said in a statement that the judge’s decision is unjust, baseless and at odds with the facts the singer has already clarified.
“The singer Gusttavo Lima would never be complicit with anything against the regulations of our country and there is no involvement of him or his companies,” the statement said.
Lima’s company Balada Eventos first came under scrutiny earlier this month following the sale of two jets and a helicopter. The judge wrote in her decision Monday that Balada laundered money originating from illegal games through the sale of a Cessna 560XLS to a company with the same owner as online betting company Vai de Bet, in which Lima allegedly acquired a 25% stake in July. The owner of that company is one of the fugitives presumed by the judge to have fled to Europe.
“His intense financial relationship with these individuals, which includes suspicious transactions, raises serious questions about his own participation in criminal activities," the judge wrote. "The connection of his company with the network of money laundering suggests a compromise that cannot be ignored.”
Lima has previously denied that his company engaged in any wrongdoing.
“Inserting Balada Eventos as a member of a supposed criminal and money laundering organization? That's craziness," he wrote on Instagram earlier this month.
Lima has 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify, 45 million followers on Instagram and 20 million on YouTube.
David Biller, The Associated Press
