A director of the Brazilian unit of Cisco Systems, the US technology giant, has been fired after being formally charged with tax fraud and other crimes involving evasion of up to R$1.5bn ($845m) in import duties and other taxes.

Carlos Roberto Carnevali, director of operations at Cisco’s Brazil unit, was charged along with 15 other people mostly connected to Mude Comércio e Serviços, Cisco’s main distributor in Brazil.