Switzerland has returned to Brazil $4.8 million stashed in Geneva by a senior judge found guilty of a string of corruption offences.

The move came after Nicolau Dos Santos, the former head of the labour tribunal in the megapolis of Sao Paulo, lost a decade-long battle to stop the money being released.
   
"These are funds that Mr. Dos Santos and his wife siphoned off," Switzerland's federal justice department said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the handover.
   
Dos Santos was convicted in his homeland in 2002 for a raft of crimes including money laundering, abuse of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud.
   
The money hidden in Switzerland had officially been destined for the construction of a new court building in Sao Paulo, the Swiss justice department said.
   
Swiss investigators blocked the funds amid an investigation launched in 1999, and Dos Santos launched a lawsuit to try to stop them being handed over, finally losing in Switzerland's top court in 2012.