Operation Car Wash 70 Targets Fraud in Petrobras’ R$ 6 Billion Chartering Contracts

The 70th Phase of Lava Jato Targets Petrobras Charter Contracts Signed with the Shipowner Maersk and Intermediary Deals Involving the Shipbrokers Tide Maritime and Ferchem

The 70th phase of Operation Lava Jato focuses on charter contracts for ships signed by Petrobras, under the responsibility of the company’s Supply Directorate. In July of this year, Lava Jato returned R$ 425 million to Petrobras.

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The operation was launched yesterday morning, December 18, by the Federal Police (PF), where officers executed twelve search and seizure warrants in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

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According to investigations, between 2002 and 2018, three companies established over 200 ship charter contracts worth more than 6 billion reais.

The targets of the 70th phase of Operation Lava Jato are the shipowner Maersk, responsible for the vessel, and the shipbrokers Tide Maritime and Ferchem, companies that act as intermediaries in negotiations and are suspected of having benefited from privileged information that gave them competitive advantages, through the payment of bribes to Petrobras employees.

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, Maersk signed 69 charter contracts with Petrobras between 2002 and 2012, amounting to approximately 968 million reais; Tide Maritime, 87 contracts with the state-owned company between 2005 and 2018, valued at 2.8 billion reais; while Ferchem signed 114 contracts from 2005 to 2015, totaling over 2.7 billion reais.

The investigations related to Maersk were based on the plea deal of Paulo Roberto Costa, former supply director of Petrobras. The privileged information is said to have been relayed by Wanderley Granda, who set up a shipbroker company to pass on bribes to the former director.

Charter contracts signed by Petrobras with the mediation of the shipbrokers Tide Maritime and Ferchem are also under investigation, with contracts extending beyond 2020, in total values exceeding 100 million dollars. These companies and their representatives, along with former Petrobras employees, are targets in today’s actions.

On the mobile phone of Cláudio Genu, former treasurer of the Progressive Party, already convicted in Mensalão and Lava Jato, conversations were collected that indicate he was acting at Petrobras and directing charter contracts to the shipowners represented by Tide Maritime and Ferchem.

The former chartering manager of Petrobras, Dalmo Monteiro, is under investigation for acting in favor of Ferchem, recommending that shipowners hire the company.

Defense Statement from Petrobras

“Petrobras works closely with the authorities conducting Operation Lava Jato and is recognized by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Court as a victim of the crimes uncovered.

The company has been cooperating with the investigations since 2014 and acts as a co-author of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Union in 18 ongoing administrative impropriety actions, in addition to being an assistant in 60 criminal actions.

It is important to note that Petrobras has already received over R$ 4 billion in reimbursements, including funds repatriated from Switzerland by Brazilian public authorities.”