Brazilian international conglomerate Camargo Correa is poised to make a multimillion dollar payment to buy its way out of future possible ramifications of the Petrobras scandal, according to reports in Brazilian newspaper Folha on Friday.
The firm, with huge interests in construction and engineering, has been implicated in the notorious Petrobras corruption web, which has shamed Brazil, damaged its economy and could still bring down national president Dilma Rousseff.
The scandal involved contractors bribing officials at oil giant Petrobras for contracts at over-inflated prices, with kickbacks going to line the pockets of politicians as well as businessmen.
So deep and widespread was the graft and price fixing that Petrobras’ financial report in April put losses to the company at almost $2 billion.
Now Camargo Correa is said to be ready to pay the equivalent of $202m in compensation to three state-run companies in the country: Petrobras; electric company Eletrobras; and Eletronuclear, a division of Eletrobras.
It is partly atonement for its part in the bribes-for-contracts affair but also has the practical effect of exempting Camargo Correa bosses from future charges related to the farrago, as per a deal with prosecutors.
The news came a day after two more major scalps were targeted in the scandal as Brazil’s attorney general on Thursday filed charges against the speaker of the lower house of the country’s Congress, Eduardo Cunha, and a senator Fernando Collor. They stand accused of passive corruption and money laundering.
