SÃ O PAULO—A former high-ranking Petrobras executive serving
five years in prison for his role in a massive corruption scandal
has begun talks with prosecutors in a bid to shorten his sentence,
according to two people familiar with the talks.
Nestor Cerveró , a former director of international operations
at Brazil´ s state-run oil firm Petró leo Brasileiro SA, was
convicted in May of money laundering. Authorities sentenced him to
five years in prison and fined him 543,000 reais (about
$173,482).
Mr. Cerveró 's discussions with prosecutors are preliminary and
it is unclear whether or not they will lead to an agreement, one of
the people said.
Brazilian authorities last year uncovered a decadelong
corruption scheme that has touched the highest levels of business
and government. Prosecutors say the nation's largest construction
firms colluded to inflate the price of Petrobras contracts by
billions of dollars, kicking back a portion of their ill-gotten
gains to corrupt company insiders and politicians. Some of the
accused have denied the allegations while others are cooperating
with prosecutors. Petrobras has said it is a victim of the scheme
and that it is cooperating with authorities.
Prosecutors accused Mr. Cerveró of accepting $40 million in
bribes from a supplier for arranging contracts totaling $1.2
billion. Mr. Cerveró was the director of Petrobras' international
operations from 2003 to 2008 and later became the chief financial
officer at Petrobras' fuel-distribution subsidiary, a post from
which he was fired in March 2014 after the scandal surfaced. Mr.
Cerveró has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Plea bargains have been a key tool for Brazilian authorities as
they work to piece together evidence of the corruption scheme,
which may involve dozens of companies and hundreds of suspects.
Prosecutors have already granted 18 such deals, including one to
Petrobras' former director Paulo Roberto Costa, who provided
authorities with crucial information about the inner workings of
the alleged bid-rigging-and-bribery cartel. Arrested in March 2014,
Mr. Costa was convicted in April 2015 of money laundering and
corruption. He was sentenced to time served plus 18 months of house
arrest. Lawyers familiar with the case said Mr. Costa could have
been sentenced to dozens of years in prison if not for the plea
deal.
According to a person close to Mr. Cerveró , the former
executive is now trying to follow the example of his former
colleague to reduce his sentence.
A spokeswoman for prosecutors in the Southern city of Paraná ,
who are heading the investigation, declined to comment about a
potential plea bargain for Mr. Cerveró , saying she would only
comment on signed deals.
Write to Luciana Magalhaes at Luciana.Magalhaes@dowjones.com
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