Nine top Brazil executives leave jail for home detention

Nine top Brazil executives leave jail for home detention

Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:1AM

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (file photo)

Nine top Brazilian executives from major construction and engineering corporations have left jail for home confinement as investigation continues into their alleged roles in a bribery scandal involving the country’s state-owned oil giant Petrobras. 
The executives may face trials on corruption charges under house detention, said Brazil’s Supreme Court in a statement on Wednesday.
Seven top executives from the companies OAS, Camargo Correa and Galvao Engenharia were released on Thursday. Moreover, the chief executive officer (CEO) of UTC Engenharia, and vice president of Engevix, which are two of the country’s largest engineering companies, left their cells for house arrest on Wednesday.
The case is under the jurisdiction of a federal judge, Sérgio Fernando Moro, in the southeastern city of Curitiba.
Moro had warned that some of the detainees, who had been jailed for nearly six months, could use their power to influence the investigation. Previously, the Supreme Court had ordered the release of only those executives who signed plea bargain deals.
Moro had approved their arrests in November 2014. However, prosecutors charged the executives with corruption and money laundering in December last year.

According to prosecutors, in the biggest corruption scheme in Brazil, Petrobras executives allegedly colluded with construction companies to massively inflate contracts and bribe politicians.
The executives and the treasurer of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff’s political party, are among some 97 indicted people, and have been under investigation for alleged participation in the graft.

Petrobras President Aldemir Bendine (C) is seen speaking during a press conference at the Petrobras headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 22, 2015. © AFP

On April 23, the oil company reported an annual loss of USD 7.2 billion for 2014, including an estimated loss of USD 2.1 billion due to a bribery scandal, which ran from around 2003 to 2012.
Rousseff was the chairwoman of the Petrobras board during most of the years the scheme played out. 
Rousseff, who has not been implicated in the case, has voiced strong support for the investigation and holding the guilty accountable.
MIS/NN/HMV