Elite businessmen and presidents are being taken down by the “Car Wash” corruption investigation and it became the largest corporate leniency deal of all times.
An explosive new phase of the long-running probe has been opened by the graft allegations which were lodged by the prosecutors in the previous week against the largest oil trading companies of the world including Trafigura, Vitol SA, Mercuria Energy Group and Glencore PLC.
The European multinationals and related players have been alleged by the federal prosecutors for paying $31 million bribes in six years to the employees of Petrobras, Brazil’s state led oil company, for sale of oil to them at sweetheart prices.
The firm has complete knowledge about it and the other illicit activities that are still going on. hundreds of legal documents have been reviewed which portray the bustling criminal enterprise which is fueled by competition, greed and creativity.
According to the authorities, freelance middlemen were used by the trading companies for covering their tracks and allowing the businessmen to negotiate deals and paying off the collaborators of Petrobras via bank accounts in different countries.
Emails further show how the intermediaries hustled to profit from the connections. The messages prove that the middlemen were aware of each other and made full efforts so that the oil trading firms favored from it.
One of the intermediaries also said that Vitol is not at all sentimental and they would prefer anyone who could secure them huge returns. The office areas of Trafigura, Vitol and Glencore located in Rio de Janeiro have been searched by the Brazilian authorities.
Mercuria has refused to accept any wrongdoing. The companies are ready to cooperate with the authorities for the investigation. The companies also said that they have zero tolerance policies for corruption and bribery. Compliance and ethics are taken seriously by the companies.
Source: Reuters and FX World Trader
