Brazilian ministers to be probed for graft ring

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s prosecutor-general Rodrigo Janot has asked the Supreme Court to open an investigation into nine ministers over their suspected links to the Petrobras corruption ring and the Odebrecht construction company.

Janot’s request came after 77 Odebrecht executives agreed last month to reveal corrupt links between it and government officials in exchange for reduced sentences.

Earlier, Justice Edson Fachin, who supervises the case, received a similar request on Tuesday to investigate 83 deputies, senators and ministers who all benefit from legal immunity, which means only the Supreme Court can prosecute them.

Fachin will analyse the requests and decide on an investigation.

The Globo daily accessed the list and named the ministers as Aloysio Nunes (foreign affairs), Blairo Maggi (agriculture), Eliseu Padilha (presidency), Moreira Franco (secretariat-general of government), Bruno Araujo (cities), Gilberto Kassab (science and technology) and Marcos Pereira (development). The names of two others have not been disclosed.

Petrobras is Brazil’s national oil company. Last year was its third of negative growth, partly because of the corruption in its ranks, with dozens of officials and executives arrested for embezzling billions of US dollars between 2004 and 2014.

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa said his country was involved in “difficult negotiations” with Odebrecht, in order to gain access to a list of Ecuadorian officials to whom the company paid bribes.

Ecuador’s prosecutor-general and attorney-general, Galo Chiriboga and Diego Garcia, were in the US to meet Odebrecht representatives to seek an agreement, Correa said. “The truth is that the Odebrecht investigation is moving forward… but nobody has the list,” said Correa.

Ecuador is one of 12 countries in Latin America and Africa in which Odebrecht paid around $788 million (R10bn) in bribes. – Xinhua