São Paulo, March 11, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - An operation carried out yesterday (10) by civil police officers, inspectors from the State Secretariat of Finance and the Federal Revenue Office, Federal Police and Municipal Government agents, and representatives of the Parliamentary Investigation Committee (CPI) on Piracy, in the March 25 Shopping Center, in the central zone of the city, resulted in the seizure of around five thousand sacks containing counterfeit goods and smuggled merchandise, with an estimated worth of R$ 7.5 million.

According to José Clóvis Cabrera, regional tax supervisor of the Secretariat of Finance, 50% of the items that were seized, such as cameras, purses, eyeglasses, clothes, watches, and software are contraband, and the other 50% are counterfeit.

According to the investigations conducted by the CPI on Piracy, the March 25 Shopping Center, one of the largest shopping centers in the capital, belongs to a Chinese-born naturalized Brazilian businessman, Law Kin Chong, considered one of the biggest black market dealers in the country.

For the president of the CPI, Federal Deputy Luiz Antônio de Medeiros (PL-SP), the task force, besides seizing illegal products, is seeking evidence "to arrive at the heads of organized crime, like Law Kin Chong."

In Medeiros's view, Chong is one of the main targets of the CPI's efforts, which are aimed at his conviction. "Nobody doubts that Chong is the biggest smuggler in Brazil. Clearly he is well-prepared, as was Al Capone, who was very difficult to arrest but was arrested for tax evasion." (DAS)