Brazilian prosecutors presented formal charges against Marcelo Odebrecht, CEO of Brazil's largest construction firm Odebrecht SA; Otavio Marques Azevedo, CEO of Andrade Gutierrez; and 20 others on Friday 24 July with charges of corruption, money laundering and criminal conspiracy for their alleged role in state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) Lava Jato scandal, according to Reuters.
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Marcelo Odebrecht. Image from Odebrecht Oil and Gas. |
Brazil federal judge Sergio Moro revealed new evidence that the Odebrecht company controlled six international bank accounts that paid approximately US$17 million between 2006 and 2011, to former directors of Petrobras Paulo Roberto Costa, Renato Duque, Nestor Cerveró and Jorge Luiz given by laymen Rogelio Zelada and the former manager of state Peter Barusco, OGlobo reported.
Prosecutors say Marcelo Odebrecht knew his firm participated in, and possibly led what they call a cartel of engineering firms that overcharged state-run oil firm Petrobras and bribed executives and politicians. In addition, Brazilian police released messages found on Odebrecht's cell phone with instructions to "sanitize paraphernalia MF and RA." In a court dispatch asking Odebrecht lawyers for clarification, Moro said the initials apparently suggested Odebrecht's subordinates Marcio Faria and Rogerio Araujo destroy evidence, and another message said "work to stop/annul (PF dissidents)." PF stands for federal police, according to a report from Reuters.
Brazilian police arrested Odebrecht last month with accusations of bribery and corruption in connection with Lava Jato. On 20 July, federal police asked prosecutors to file charges against Odebrecht.
In a statement made on 21 July, Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO) said that they believe the charges are unnecessary, since the company and its executives have always been available to the authorities to cooperate with the investigation since the beginning of the operation Lava Jato, CNO said in a statement in June.
On Monday (20 July), the first sentences were handed down in connection with the Lava Jato scandal to three former senior executives from São Paulo-based Construtora Camargo Corrêa, one of Brazil’s largest construction corporations, according to the Wall Street Journal.
At the time of Odebrecht's arrest on 19 June, Andrade Gutierrez president Otavio Azevedo, and 10 others were arrested in connection with charges that their companies paid $230 million (710 million reais) in bribe money to politicians.
Including Odebrecht, federal police are investigating at least nine of Brazil's largest construction firms: Camargo Correa, OAS, UTC, Mendes Junior, Engevix, Queiroz Galvao, Iesa and Galvao Engenharia.
Earlier this week, Petrobras confirmed the findings of contract irregularities in the approval of a 2009 contract to provide naphtha, flammable oil containing various hydrocarbons, with Braskem SA, a petrochemical subsidiary and joint venture between Petrobras and Odebrecht. The investigation began after a plea deal testimony was given from former executive Paulo Roberto Costa and black-market currency dealer Alberto Youssef.
Law firm Mayor Brown says that Petrobras has taken a $2.1 billion writedown and a $14.8 billion impairment charge on its financial statements to date. Financial firm Morgan Stanley estimated the Petrobras financial writedown could be as much as $8.1 billion. UBS estimated the damage to be between $10-15 billion.
Petrobras’ Lava Jato, consisting of large-scale bribery of government officials and money-laundering corruption, was first revealed in 2009.
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