Cisco may be focus of Brazil police raids

Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of computer network equipment, said it was cooperating with Brazilian authorities who raided offices across the country to break up an alleged tax evasion scheme.

Police refused to name which company may have benefited from the plot, but a police statement described the firm as an "American multinational, leader in the sector of high-technology services and equipment for corporate networks, Internet and telecommunications."

Cisco spokesman Felipe Lamus said the company was "cooperating fully with the investigation" but declined to say whether Cisco's Brazilian facilities had been raided or whether any Cisco executives were among those people arrested by police.

About 650 police and tax agents executed 93 search warrants Tuesday, arresting 40 people involved in an alleged ring to help the unnamed U.S. company avoid import, sales and corporate taxes, the federal police statement said.