Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras, said last week it has completed improvements to its compliance program, meeting the requirements of a 2018 three-year US Justice Department non-prosecution agreement related to a bribes-for-inflated-contracts corruption scheme stemming from 2014.
A Brazilian investigation at that time found that a number of construction companies had been overbilling Petrobras and using kickbacks to bribe politicians and Petrobras executives.
Since 2018, Petrobras has worked to improve the effectiveness of its internal controls, and consolidated structural and governance changes by strengthening a culture of ethics, integrity and transparency, the company said in a statement. It now maintains several measures, such as an independent whistleblower hotline, due-diligence mechanisms to combat fraud and corruption, and background checks on all managers, administrators and employees who work in critical processes.
“We have finally turned the page, and the end of the DOJ agreement proves that we are living in new times, with our compliance system being strengthened day by day,” said Petrobras’s executive director of governance and compliance, Salvador Dahan. “We now have a robust control system and anti-corruption measures that go beyond those required by law.”
