SÃ O PAULO—Brazil's giant state-run oil firm Petró leo
Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said Friday it is tightening its
supplier controls in the wake of a massive corruption scandal and
seeking the reparation of about $2 billion that was diverted during
a yearslong price-fixing scheme.
Petrobras said suppliers now will need to give detailed
information on their finances and compliance mechanisms. It didn't
explain how this would be different from its previous relationship
with suppliers.
Petrobras also said it has undertaken internal initiatives to
limit individual managers' power within the company, created two
new committees and begun a process of hiring an independent,
external ombudsman to help prevent future corruption.
The company will be limiting its individual executives' "ability
to make a decision" and those decisions will be monitored by
"committees and support groups," Petrobras chief executive Aldemir
Bendine said.
An investigation into the corruption, known as Operation Car
Wash because of one of the businesses allegedly involved, led the
company to temporarily block ties with important suppliers, which
include some of the country's largest construction companies,
including Odebrecht SA and Andrade Gutierrez. The chief executives
for those two companies were arrested last month as part of the
investigation and charged with corruption and money laundering.
Both Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez have denied wrongdoing by
the companies and their executives.
International suppliers were also implicated in the scandal.
Prosecutors said that the shipbuilding arm of South Korean
conglomerate Samsung paid bribes to a former executive at
Petrobras, and they also have accused Swedish builder Skanska AB of
taking part in the corruption at Petrobras. Samsung and Skanska
officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Previously, Skanska has said it has a zero-tolerance policy
against corruption and takes the situation seriously. Last July,
Skanska announced it would shut its Latin America operations.
Earlier this week, authorities accused former Petrobras services
director Renato Duque, who was arrested earlier this year for
allegedly taking part in the scheme and is currently in prison, of
accepting bribes from Joã o Bernardi, a sales representative for
the local unit of Italian oil company Saipem.
Mr. Bernardi's lawyer couldn't be located, while a spokeswoman
for Saipem said the company has yet to be contacted by Brazilian
authorities and would cooperate fully if it does.
At the news conference to announce its new supplier controls
Friday, Petrobras was joined by Brazil's top prosecutor, Rodrigo
Janot, who said close to 140 million Brazilian reais ($41.17
million) had been returned to Petrobras from former executives. The
return of the money had previously been announced.
"Today, Brazil´ s Justice shows that there is no citizen above
the law," Mr. Janot said. "These criminals brutally looted
resources from the company and took away pride from the Brazilian
society."
In April, Petrobras put a tag price on the corruption scandal by
writing off $2 billion in losses related to bribery. The company
said it still hopes to get this money back.
Carlos Melo, political analyst at Insper, said Brazil needs to
learn from past mistakes and be more vigilant about its state-owned
companies.
"Institutional mechanisms are needed, but it is necessary to go
beyond, creating a general law of state-owned companies, making
sure that boards are effective and work with transparency and
keeping agencies vigilant, " Mr. Melo said.
Write to Luciana Magalhaes at luciana.magalhaes@dowjones.com and
Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com
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