Brazilian prosecutors allege bribes of artworks and cash were paid on behalf of Saipem, the Italian oil services company, to secure contracts with the Latin American country’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras.
In an indictment released Wednesday night, prosecutors filed charges against five Brazilians for alleged corruption and money laundering in relation to the case, including alleged Saipem representative João Antônio Bernardi Filho and former Petrobras director of service Renato de Souza Duque.
“Those denounced participated in a corruption and money-laundering scheme to favour the Italian company Saipem in the contracting of works at Petrobras,” the public prosecutors’ office of the southern state of Paraná, which is handling the case, said in a statement.
Saipem has not been named as a defendant in the case. A Saipem spokesperson in Milan said: “We have not been notified by the authorities. Should that happen we will co-operate fully.”
Mr Duque and Mr Bernardi are in police custody. Their lawyers did not return calls requesting comment. Petrobras is co-operating with the investigations.
The Italian company is the latest of a long list of foreign operators to have been named by prosecutors as beneficiaries of bribe-paying by local representatives in relation to a sweeping corruption case at Petrobras.
Under the Petrobras investigation, prosecutors allege that contractors or their middlemen paid bribes in exchange for business to corrupt Petrobras executives, who in turn arranged illicit payments to politicians mostly from the ruling coalition of President Dilma Rousseff.
The allegations regarding Saipem’s contracts in Brazil come as the Italian company is announcing job cuts after taking a near €1bn writedown in the first half of this year.
Prosecutors described the alleged scheme in favour of Saipem as one of the most innovative they had yet uncovered in the sprawling Petrobras case. Aside from laying criminal charges, they are also seeking reparations of funds to the state of R$8m.
“Money laundering through the acquisition of works of art is an innovative way to hide the real beneficiary of the fruits of crime,” said prosecutor Diogo Castor de Mattos.
But they also recounted how not everything always went right for the alleged conspirators — on one occasion Saipem representative Mr Bernardi was mugged on the street in Rio de Janeiro on his way to pay a bribe at Petrobras’ office.
The armed robbers made off with R$100,000 in the robbery, which occurred “practically in front of the Petrobras headquarters in the centre of Rio de Janeiro”, the indictment said.
Under the alleged scheme, prosecutors accuse Mr Bernardi of helping secure a contract for Saipem in December 2011 for a R$249m submarine pipeline link between the deepwater oilfields of Lula and Cernambi off the coast of south-east Brazil.
They allege Mr Bernardi and two others indicted in the case operated two shell companies, one in Uruguay, Hayley/SA, with Swiss bank accounts, and another one in Brazil, Hayley do Brasil, to launder bribes for Mr Duque.
Hayley do Brasil was used by Mr Bernardi to buy works of art at auctions, which he then left in the possession of Mr Duque, prosecutors allege.
These included works ranging from “Phantastic Panacea” by Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão to “Flower Party” by her compatriot João Antônio da Silva.
“Renato Duque received from João Bernardi undue gains to the value of R$577,431.20 . . . in the form of 13 works of art,” the prosecutors alleged in their statement.