12/19/2014
BRASILIA – The Brazilian congressional committee investigating the massive corruption scandal at state-controlled oil giant Petrobras recommended Thursday that charges be brought against 52 individuals, although its list does not include any politicians who allegedly benefited from the graft scheme.
The committee’s final report was approved Thursday by a vote of 19-8.
Congress decided to conduct its own probe into the diversion of Petrobras funds, independent of investigations being carried out by the Federal Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the Inspector General’s Office and the TCU, as the federal accountability office is known.
But the scope of its results has proved less far-reaching.
The report mentions nearly all of the individuals who are already in custody over the kickback scandal, but refrains from accusing any of the nearly 30 politicians believed to have benefited from kickbacks paid out by Petrobras’ contractors.
The corruption scandal that has battered Petrobras’ image and caused a nearly 40 percent drop in its share price this year also has ensnared several politicians allied with President Dilma Rousseff’s administration.
It also has implicated leading Brazilian engineering firms, who allegedly formed a cartel to overcharge for Petrobras contracts and paid kickbacks in exchange for those lucrative deals.
Recipients of the kickbacks included the ruling Workers Party and other political groupings that support Rousseff, suspects in the case have told investigators.
The amount of money diverted from the state-controlled oil company over the past 10 years could total 10 billion reais (nearly $3.85 billion), according to Federal Police estimates.
Two former Petrobras directors and several executives of Brazil’s leading engineering firms have been jailed in the case, some of whom have provided information to prosecutors as part of plea deals.
source
BRASILIA – The Brazilian congressional committee investigating the massive corruption scandal at state-controlled oil giant Petrobras recommended Thursday that charges be brought against 52 individuals, although its list does not include any politicians who allegedly benefited from the graft scheme.The committee’s final report was approved Thursday by a vote of 19-8.
Congress decided to conduct its own probe into the diversion of Petrobras funds, independent of investigations being carried out by the Federal Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the Inspector General’s Office and the TCU, as the federal accountability office is known.
But the scope of its results has proved less far-reaching.
The report mentions nearly all of the individuals who are already in custody over the kickback scandal, but refrains from accusing any of the nearly 30 politicians believed to have benefited from kickbacks paid out by Petrobras’ contractors.
The corruption scandal that has battered Petrobras’ image and caused a nearly 40 percent drop in its share price this year also has ensnared several politicians allied with President Dilma Rousseff’s administration.
It also has implicated leading Brazilian engineering firms, who allegedly formed a cartel to overcharge for Petrobras contracts and paid kickbacks in exchange for those lucrative deals.
Recipients of the kickbacks included the ruling Workers Party and other political groupings that support Rousseff, suspects in the case have told investigators.
The amount of money diverted from the state-controlled oil company over the past 10 years could total 10 billion reais (nearly $3.85 billion), according to Federal Police estimates.
Two former Petrobras directors and several executives of Brazil’s leading engineering firms have been jailed in the case, some of whom have provided information to prosecutors as part of plea deals.
source
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