The New York Times recently reported on the Brazilian oil refinery Petrobras and the international financial scandal it currently finds itself in as it struggles to stay solvent. In addition to accusations of bribery in the purchase of a refinery in Houston, one of the company’s executives was recently arrested over accusations of money laundering. Police have seized evidence from the company to verify the money laundering activity.
The source notes that Paulo Roberto Costa, the executive in question, has been arrested because of his possible connection building a new refinery with more than $2 billion in laundered money. The amount of money that the company is said to have received as a bribe from SBM Offshore, the Dutch oil company that owned the Houston location, totals near $140 million.
However, despite the attention these scandals have brought to the company, it seems to be fighting the allegations with the help of no less a source than the president of the country, Dilma Rousseff. Although the head of the company, Maria das Graças Silva Foster, went up against the country’s senate in a hearing earlier this month, Rousseff asserted her effusive belief in the company when appearing in front of employees of that business.
“Petrobras is bigger than all of us,” she said, also saying that “no one and nothing will destroy Petrobras.”
The support of Rousseff may be problematic as well for Petrobras and those connected to it. The BBC has noted that the oil company experienced a more than 60 percent increase in debt while Rousseff was in office. She has also been connected to the company’s activities since she was previously serving on the company’s board.
Financial institutions with effective Customer Due Diligence and good CDD solutions will see a lot of red flags with behaviors like these.
