The Billion-Dollar Refunds Arise from Petrobras’ Status as a Victim in the Crimes Investigated in the Scope of Operation Lava Jato.
Petrobras announced yesterday (11/01), in a relevant fact, that it received approximately R$ 439 million from the companies Camargo Corrêa, Novonor (formerly known as Odebrecht), and SBM over the last quarter, recovered through leniency agreements, as well as Pedro Barusco’s collaboration agreement.
According to the state-owned company, with these refunds, the total amount of resources transferred to Petrobras’ coffers (including subsidiaries), as a result of collaboration agreements, leniency, and repatriations, exceeded the amount of R$ 6.7 billion.
Together, Camargo Corrêa and Odebrecht Have Already Paid Over R$ 400 Million in Leniency Agreements to the State-Owned Company
Petrobras states in the report that Novonor paid the Company R$ 71.3 million and another R$ 728 thousand to Transpetro, amounts that represent part of the total to be refunded through 22 (twenty-two) annual installments.
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Camargo Corrêa, on the other hand, refunded R$ 235.6 million to Petrobras and another R$ 6.9 million to Transpetro, a subsidiary of the Company that is covered under the same leniency agreement, in the month of October, in addition to R$ 88 million already received earlier, which represent some of the installments of the total amount to be refunded.
“The leniency agreements between Camargo Corrêa and Novonor were celebrated with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), as well as with the Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) and the Attorney General’s Office (AGU)”, Petrobras said in the statement.
SBM Offshore Has Already Refunded Over R$ 1 Billion to Petrobras
SBM refunded R$ 113.7 million to Petrobras between August and October 2022. Approximately R$ 48.7 million was paid directly to the Company and another R$ 64.9 million was deducted from payments due by Petrobras to SBM, in existing contracts for chartering platforms and providing services. The leniency agreement with SBM was celebrated in 2018 with Petrobras, in addition to the CGU and AGU. Excluding the amounts reimbursed in this last quarter, approximately R$ 1.1 billion has already been refunded by SBM to Petrobras as a result of the agreement.
The refunds stem from Petrobras’ status as a victim in the crimes investigated in the scope of Operation Lava Jato. The Company has taken the appropriate measures in search of adequate compensation for the damages it has suffered. Petrobras acts as a co-author with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Union in 32 ongoing administrative impropriety actions, in addition to being an assistant for accusation in 90 criminal actions related to the offenses investigated by Operation Lava Jato.

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