Brazil prosecutors sue Petrobras suppliers for $1.6 billion on fraud

Sanko Pazarlama Ithalat Ihracat

20/02/2015 16:28

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors 
filed lawsuits against six construction and engineering groups, 
seeking 4.47 billion reais ($1.55 billion) in damages in 
connection with a contract-fixing, bribery and political 
kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras  PETR4.SA . 
    The five lawsuits, filed in federal court in Brasilia, are 
against Camargo Corrêa SA  PMORRC.UL , the Brazil unit of 
Japan's Sanko Co  6964.T ; Mendes Junior Engenharia SA 
 MEND5.SA ; OAS SA  OAEP.UL ; Galvão Engenharia SA; and Engevix 
Engenharia SA, the federal public prosecutor's office, known as 
MPF, said in a statement on Friday. 
    The lawsuits also name 13 of these companies' subsidiaries 
and 28 of their executives as defendants.  
    All the companies except Sanko are Brazilian. Camargo Corrêa 
and Sanko are being sued together, the rest of the construction 
and engineering groups are being sued individually. 
    The lawsuits seek to recover 319 million reais in lost state 
funds and 3.19 billion reais in damages and to impose a civil 
penalty of 959 million reais. 
    The cases stem from what criminal prosecutors say was a 
scheme where the construction companies and their executives 
conspired with Petrobras executives to overcharge for contracts. 
Much of the excess was then kicked back to Petrobras executives, 
politicians and political parties as bribes and illegal campaign 
contributions.  ID:nL1N0TV1TA  
    During criminal investigations, prosecutors showed that 16 
construction and engineering companies had formed a cartel 
"allowing them to defraud the public auction process related to 
some of the projects tendered by Petrobras between 2004 and 
2014, increasing the profits of the companies by hundreds of 
millions of reais," the MPF said.     
    The lawsuits also seek to ban the companies from receiving 
government business and prohibit them from obtaining tax 
benefits or loans from state-run or state-owned banks. 
    Engevix said it would take the necessary steps to deal with 
the situation as soon as its lawyers are notified of the case. 
    The other companies did not immediately respond to requests 
for comment.        
    ($1 = 2.8773 Brazilian reais)  
 
 (Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) 
 ((Jeb.Blount@thomsonreuters.com; +55-21-2223-7143; Reuters 
Messaging: jeb.blount.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: BRAZIL PETROBRAS/LAWSUIT