Brazilian lawmakers moved to widen their investigation into the local business dealings of Italian food group Parmalat, which is suspected of illegally transferring funds in and out of Brazil.

A group of legislators delivered a petition to launch what is known as a parliamentary committee of inquiry, or CPI, into Parmalat?s activities in Brazil, one of its biggest operations outside of Italy.

Congressman Waldemir Moka, who lead a separate special commission probing Parmalat, said the group had collected enough signatures in both the lower and upper houses of Congress to launch the CPI, which will give lawmakers the ability to review phone, tax and banking records of those under suspicion.

?You have the ability to have a much more comprehensive investigation with a CPI,? Moka said. ?When you need to check on fraud, or investigate the laundering of money, you need a CPI because a special commission doesn?t have those powers.?

The bicameral investigation, which must still be approved by Congressional leaders, would be just the latest turn in Parmalat?s worsening fate in Brazil, where it has eight factories and one-sixth of its work force.

Police are also probing the dairy company?s activities in Brazil and a state judge had placed its main operating unit, Parmalat Brasil Industria de Alimentos, under a court-controlled administrator.

In Italy, 18 people have already been detained in a massive fraud probe triggered by the unveiling two months ago of a multibillion-euro hole in Parmalat?s accounts.

Prosecutors are trying to piece together what Parmalat did with billions of euros raised through bond issues and how it hid its debts in a web of offshore units and shell companies.

Its Brazilian operations came under scrutiny after accountants told investigators some of the money may have been funneled through Brazil and other South American countries.