BRAZIL-PETROBRAS/ARRESTS Brazil police arrest another former Petrobras exec in probe

Record ID: 148750

  • Title: BRAZIL-PETROBRAS/ARRESTS Brazil police arrest another former Petrobras exec in probe
  • Date: 2nd July 2015
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF THE PETROBRAS HEADQUARTERS SANTOS, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PETROBRAS OFFSHORE OIL PLATFORM
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6CH3ZBJ3S3I2GXUU10GHLTGYM
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Brazilian police arrested the former director of Petrobras's international division, Jorge Zelada, on Thursday (July 2), as part of an ongoing investigation into bribery and corruption at the state-run oil producer, prosecutors said.
    Zelada is suspected of money-laundering, appropriating public funds, corruption, tax evasion and contract fraud.
    He was taken into custody early Thursday as part of the graft probe that has already ensnared dozens of Brazil's top executives.
    Prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima said Zelada, who led the international division from 2008 to 2012, appeared to have received bribes on a contract for the Titanium Explorer drillship operated by Vantage Drilling Co and another rig operated by Pride International, a company acquired by Ensco Plc in 2011.
    Lima told Reuters last week the sprawling investigation had turned up evidence of corruption by more than a dozen foreign firms that had contracts with Petrobras.
    Zelada is suspected of hiding some 11 million euros ($12.19 million) received through bribes in Monaco.
    "This continuance of (bank) transfers from Switzerland to Monaco alone indicate an interest to conceal the amounts. Then some bank transfers of more than a million dollars to China also indicate such a continuity related to the crime of money laundering. Because of this purposeful continuity, it is a classic case for preventive detention," Lima said during a press briefing following Zelada's arrest.
    Zelada has not been formally charged and federal Judge Sergio Moro justified his preventive detention by pointing to a risk of additional money laundering involving overseas accounts.
    Zelada's lawyer, Eduardo Moraes, said the arrest was unnecessary and illegal and that he would ask for a higher court to release his client.
    Zelada is the fifth ex-Petrobras executive implicated in the 16-month-old investigation and the fourth to be arrested.
    Another former head of the international division, Nestor Cervero, was sentenced May 26 to five years in prison for money laundering.
    Lima said he expects to end the year with about 1 billion reais ($321.5 million dollars) in funds returned to Petrobras, which prosecutors say was a victim of the corruption scheme.
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