| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Brazil sets Petrobras ‘fraudsters’ free from jail
The new President of the Brazilian oil giant says that company losses are of only $1.8 billion The most expected annual report for 2014 was finally made public by Petrobras, the Brazilian publicly owned company used by contractors and executives to set up the largest corruption scheme ever recorded in the history of the country. Among the revelations included in the report are skim details about the corruption running through the company from top to bottom for more than eight years, which cost Brazilians R$6.2 billion, the equivalent to $2 billion. It is the first time that the current directors of the company quantify company losses since the new people appointed by Dilma Rousseff took over. The new president of the company, Aldemir Bendine, who used to be the president of Banco do Brasil, immediately attempted to separate the past from the present: “We are going to clean the errors to address the markets.” Up until the revelation of the 2014 annual report, many people in Brazil doubted Petrobras’ capacity to continue functioning as an independent entity and many experts questioned whether or not the government would have to bail Petrobras out. The possibility of a bailout is still not certain, but neither has the government nor the new heads of Petrobras denied that the company may need financial aid. Bendine explained that the report’s figures were obtained by averaging at 3% the monies deviated from transactions between Petrobras and 27 construction companies involved in the bribing scandal which included paying kickbacks to company executives to obtain contracts and other favors. The president of Petrobras specified that these calculations are based on the testimonies from former executives accused of corruption who have detailed to police how the corrupt scheme worked in exchange for a reduction to their punishment. More on that later. In exchange for the bribes, 27 contractors obtained contracts from which is by far the most influential public company in Brazil. Petrobras is responsible for the construction of everything from oil refineries to processing plants, roads and even ports. Some of those involved in the bribery scheme received mild penalties on Tuesday. For example, Paulo Roberto Costa, the former director of Supplies at Petrobras and one of the key names of the scheme, because his department was responsible for more than half of fraudulent contracts, has only been sentenced to seven years in prison. The first four years, because of his collaboration with authorities, will be spent at home, which he won’t be able to leave unless a permit is approved by a court. The rest of the sentence -3 years- Mr. Costa will be subjected to “regime aberto” or the possibility to discount his sentence by working during the day and spending the evenings in confinement. This confinement can end up being his own home. Meanwhile, Alberto Yousseff, the expert in money laundering and second hand man of the corrupt network, who served as an intermediary between companies and Costa, received a sentence of nine years. He will go to jail until 2018, but then will have the option to enjoy the same treatment as that of Costa. In addition to Petrobras former executives, police also arrested João Vaccari, which until then was the treasurer of the ruling party (PT), the same group behind Dilma Rousseff and former President Lula da Silva. Police investigations that include testimonies of those involved and others from informers, resulted in the conclusion that part of the bribes ended up in the coffers of various political parties, among which is the PT. Apparently, the political group used the monies to finance election campaigns. The arrest of Vaccari put out a new twist in the Petrobras case. Last March 7 the Prosecutor issued a list of 49 politicians accused of benefiting from bribe money from Petrobras suppliers and contractors. That list included Congress President Eduardo Cunha and Senator Renan Calheiros. Both men are members of the opposition party PMDB, which right now is an ally of the ruling party. Besides talking about the $2 billion in bribes, the new president of Petrobras also revealed that the company lost $7,5 million last year and that company assets have depreciated accordingly in $15,7 million due to the rising dollar, falling oil prices, the abandonment of investment projects and falling demand. The magnitude of the corruption that took place at Petrobras is enhanced due to the reach that the company’s activities have in the Brazilian economy. According to Bendine, Petrobras accounts for -directly and indirectly- one percentage point of the entire Brazilian GDP. That is why the loss in value that Petrobras suffered through the corruption episode is so grave. The company has lost two-thirds of what it was worth a year ago, which made many people think that the Rousseff government would have to inject capital to prevent the company from dragging the whole economy down into the abyss. Such rescue has not been officially spoken about yet. Most of the pressure corresponding to the investment of around $221 billion has been reduced after the company abandoned some projects given the lack of capital and certainty about its future. What still remains is its huge debt -$130 billion- which still threatens to collapse Petrobras. Read the rest below at the source link
Source: http://real-agenda.com/2015/04/23/brazil-sets-petrobras-fraudsters-free-from-jail/
