Operação Lava Jato (English: Operation Car Wash) is an investigation being carried out by the Federal Police of Brazil, Curitiba Branch since March 17, 2014. Initially a money laundering investigation, it has expanded to cover allegations of corruption at the state-controlled oil company Petrobras, where it is alleged that executives accepted bribes in return for awarding contracts to construction firms at inflated prices. This criminal "system" is known as . The operation has included the enforcement of more than a hundred warrants for search and seizure, temporary and preventive detention and coercive measures, with the aim of ascertaining a money laundering scheme suspected of moving more than 10 Billion Brazilian Reais (approx. USD 3.5 Billion @ 2.84 BRL / 1 USD, as of March 2, 2015).