Facts
The Brazilian authorities are conducting a criminal proceeding against several accused individuals for professional fraud, embezzlement, criminal organization, corruption, money laundering, and other alleged offenses. Part of the proceeds of the offense were transferred to accounts in Switzerland. Brazil requested mutual assistance from the Swiss authorities. The Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office (BA) ordered account freezes at three banks and approved the mutual assistance-based disclosure of account documents and interrogation protocols.
Company [X.] , the owner of the bank accounts affected by the mutual assistance measures, filed a complaint with the Federal Court and requested that mutual assistance be denied, that its account documents not be disclosed, and that the account freezes be lifted.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the requirements for mutual assistance and found that the factual presentation of the request complies with the requirements of Art. 28 IMAC. The complainant argued that the factual presentation was too vague and that the requirement of dual criminality was not met. The Federal Court rejected these objections and found that the requirement of dual criminality for mutual assistance is generally met.
The Federal Court also examined the sufficient factual connection between the bank relationships affected by the mutual assistance measures and the subject of the criminal proceeding. It found that a sufficiently close factual connection exists and that the account freezes and account seizures relate to bank relationships of the complainant that were opened during…