Prosecutors accuse head of Brazil water sports federation of embezzlement

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 21 ( Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors said on Wednesday that they had accused the president and the financial director of the Brazilian water sports federation, CBDA, of fraud, alleging they were involved in a scheme that misappropriated public funds intended for sporting equipment.

Federal prosecutors said in a statement that they had asked a judge to freeze 4.5 million reais (US$1.4 million) in assets belonging to CBDA President Coaracy Nunes Filho and Finance Director Sérgio Alvarenga as collateral for any misappropriated funds and potential fines.

The CBDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Attempts to separately reach Filho and Alvarenga were unsuccessful.

According to the statement, prosecutors said the scheme involved money meant to buy equipment for training Olympic athletes competing in marathon swimming, water polo and synchronized swimming and resulted in a loss to the public purse of more than 1.5 million reais.

($1 = 3.232 reais) (Reporting by Pedro Fonseca and Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Toni Reinhold)