SÃ O PAULO—A Brazilian judge sentenced five construction-company
executives to as many as 16 years in prison Wednesday for their
participation in a massive bribery scandal that has rocked Brazil
for more than a year.
Builder OAS's president, José Aldemario Pinheiro Filho, was
sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison, and four other of
the company's executives received equal or shorter sentences, for
their involvement in a corruption scheme that stole billions of
dollars from state-controlled oil company Petró leo Brasileiro SA,
or Petrobras.
Mr. Pinheiro is no longer the company's president, according to
prosecutors.
This is the second wave of sentences for construction
executives, after the judge leading the probe sentenced three
former executives from the Camargo Correa construction firm in July
for their participation in the scandal.
One of the lawyers representing the OAS executives said
Wednesday evening that his clients are innocent and that he intends
to appeal the decision to a higher court.
Petrobras suppliers have faced a wave of corruption allegations
since the beginning of last year. The growing scandal has led to
the investigation of close to 50 Brazilian politicians and earlier
this week moved closer to the presidency. Several of those
politicians have denied wrongdoing while some haven't commented on
the investigation.
Jose Dirceu, former minister of ex-president Luiz Iná cio Lula
da Silva, was arrested Monday on allegations he received bribes
from former Petrobras executives.
A lawyer representing Mr. Dirceu said he denies wrongdoing. Mr.
da Silva, who handpicked President Dilma Rousseff as his party's
candidate to succeed him, and Ms. Rousseff haven't been implicated
in the Petrobras scandal.
Write to Luciana Magalhaes at luciana.magalhaes@wsj.com
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