Petrobras Procurement Scandal Goes CSI

After reading yesterday that the Brazilian government is considering offering leniency to the suppliers caught up in the Petrobras bribery scandal, my interest was piqued and I decided to look into the case a little more.

And wow, this one is interesting. It reads like the next HBO mini series; intrigue, bribery, political involvement and enormous sums of money. It’s all there.

But perhaps the most unbelievable twists (certainly the most macabre) were released this week when the congressional inquiry established to deal with the scandal filed for a court order to exhume the remains of the late politician Jose Janene after allegations were made by an unknown source that he might have faked his own death. It has been suggested that the former politician is now living in an undisclosed Central American nation.

Mr Janene was implicated in the scandal by Alberto Youssef, a black market money dealer. Youssef detailed that Janene, who reportedly passed away from a heart condition in 2010, was responsible for establishing the system of bribes and supplier kick backs that has brought the oil giant to it knees.

It’s not the first

Incredibly, this is not instance of a faked death involved in the scandal. Police have submitted evidence to prosecutors suggesting that another third party moneyman faked his own murder by mugging only to later turn up operating underworld business links between Europe and Brazil.

Not surprisingly, this case captivated the Brazilian public. 34 sitting politicians are now embroiled in the controversy. The recently re-elected president, who until now has avoided the controversy, is starting to come under fire particularly around the fact that she previously led the board of directors at Petrobras.

As discussed in yesterday’s Procurious article the scandal has had a dire impact on the Brazilian economy. In April of this year Petrobras estimated that the corruption scandal has cost the company R$6.2 billion or USD $2.1 billion. The company’s stock price has plummeted by around 30 per cent since criminal investigations started a year ago.

We can but only wonder, what comes next?