Amaral's allegations of corruption in Petrobras in Franco's and FHC's government
Petrobras headquarters
In a plea bargain agreed with the Public Prosecution Office (MPF), Senator Delcídio do Amaral revealed that the corruption scheme in Petrobras was already operating before the Workers' Party (PT) arrived at the government, under the administration of the then presidents Itamar Franco and Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
According to Amaral, when Joel Rennó was Petrobras CEO from 1992 to 1999, some "cases of illegal activity" happened either for "personal enrichment" and also for "political campaign financing."
In the plea bargain, the senator, who was Petrobras CEO from 1999 to 2001, said Rennó "enjoyed political support that no other CEO had throughout the company's history," and was the second company's CEO to remain in office for a longer period. José Sergio Gabrielli remained in office for the longest period and was CEO during Lula's government.
As CEO, Amaral reported that the first case he became aware of happened in the purchase of P-36 Platform. To get to Brazil, the equipment, built by Marítima company, passed by Canada and Singapore, and "the cost of purchase escalated to more than $500 million, making a huge loss on Petrobras," reported Delcídio.
According to him, the same operation was used to purchase P-37 and P-40. In the plea bargain, Delcídio do Amaral also reported to be aware of "illegal activity" in Petrobras' purchase of six "Amethysts" drilling equipments also bought at Marítima company.
Delcídio do Amaral also reported that, as bid for the contract, the equipment would be built to drill the continental platform up to 1,200 meters deep, at a rental cost of $80,000 per day of use. The bidding procedure for the purchase of six drilling equipments required them, as he said, to be delivered within 18 months after signing the contract.
"With the exception of Marítima company, all competitors refused to meet this deadline, because they understand that it would be an absolutely impossible deadline. In this context, being the only company to offer a proposal that claimed to meet the extremely strict deadline of 18 months, Marítima won the bidding. However, as the market had predicted, the impossibility of meeting the deadline set was confirmed. To get an idea, the first two drilling equipments, provided by Marítima, had their deadline extended in almost a year. Such deadline extension strongly favored Marítima at the expense of other competitors and made a huge loss on Petrobras," declared the senator.
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Amaral's allegations of corruption in Petrobras in Franco's and FHC's government
