Italian oil and gas contractor Saipem is facing a corruption probe in its home country because of its alleged connection to the Petrobras scandal in Brazil.
According to reports by Reuters and others the main bone of contention is a 2011 contract for an undersea gas pipeline that Saipem was awarded by Petrobras, Brazil’s state oil company.
A Brazilian party to that deal, who acted as a consultant to Saipem subsidiary Saipem do Brasil, is being investigated in that country.
And an even bigger fish, Petrobras’ former engineering director Renato Duque, was arrested in November for allegedly taking bribes to favour Saipem in that pipeline contract auction.
Public Prosecutors in Milan are handling the case in Italy and have requested documents from Saipem.
Petrobras has been embroiled in a huge alleged bribes-for-contracts scheme that also allegedly involved price fixing and political kickbacks.
