Two of South America's wealthiest brothers, the Bolivian-born airline magnates German and Jose Efromovich, were arrested yesterday in Brazil as part of the country's sweeping anti-corruption measures, dubbed "Operation Car Wash," AFP reports. The brothers are the biggest shareholders in Colombian airline Avianca, the second-largest such company in Latin America. However, prosecutors said their investigation was not related to Avianca but rather to another Efromovich firm, the shipbuilder EISA, in its dealings with with Transpetro, a subsidiary of Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras. The brothers are suspected of paying 28 million reals (about $15 million at the time) in bribes between 2009 to 2013 to Transpetro's former chief executive, Sergio Machado, in exchange for lucrative contracts with the transport and logistics firm, prosecutors said in a statement. Investigators raided homes and four businesses belonging to the brothers, who were arrested in Sao Paulo, and, due to the coronavirus pandemic, assigned to house arrest. German Efromovich, 70, is a former chairman of the board at Avianca, but was forced from the post last year. He and his brother, Jose, 65, come from a Polish-Jewish family that emigrated to South America after the Second World War.