Brazil Petrobras pays $853.2m under 2018 Lava Jato deal

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Petrobras has fulfilled the commitments it made in 2018 to the US and Brazilian governments that resolved an investigation into the Lava Jato corruption scandal, the state-controlled energy producer said on Monday.

Among those commitments was an agreement to pay $853.2m in fines to the US and Brazilian governments, Petrobras said. It also adopted measures to improve its internal controls and compliance programmes and agreed to cooperate with US agencies.

Under the deal, the US acknowledged that Petrobras was a victim of the Lava Jato scandal.

Out of the $853.2m, 80% went to the Brazilian government, 10% went to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a civil fine and 10% went to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as a criminal fine, Petrobras said.

The scandal, called Lava Jato, or Car Wash, was a pay-to-play bribery scheme. Under it, Petrobras awarded inflated contracts. The excess money went to individual executives and politicians.