Former Petrobras Exec Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison Over Samsung Drillship Bribe

SAO PAULO, August 17 (Reuters) – A Brazilian decide sentenced Nestor Cervero, former worldwide chief of state-run oil agency Petrobras, to simply over 12 years in jail on Monday for corruption and cash laundering associated to a bribe allegedly paid to the speaker of Brazil’s decrease home of Congress.

Cervero and two different defendants are accused of organizing bribes from Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries in alternate for 2 drillship contracts, the Petrobras 10000, which was leased collectively by Petrobras and Mitsui in 2006, and the Vitoria 10000, employed by Petrobras in 2007.

Consultant Julio Camargo, who mentioned in plea cut price testimony that Speaker Eduardo Cunha requested him for a $5 million bribe, was given a 14-year sentence that was diminished to reporting to police twice month-to-month and doing group service as a result of he collaborated.

Lobbyist Fernando Soares, accused of funneling bribes to Cunha’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), was sentenced to simply over 16 years in jail.

Cunha, who give up President Dilma Rousseff’s ruling coalition final month, accused her authorities of framing him within the broadening scandal targeted on Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras.

He was not a defendant. But the sentences handed down by federal decide Sergio Moro may give federal prosecutors in Brasilia extra ammunition to carry prices towards Cunha and different politicians thought to have benefited from the price-fixing and political kickback scheme.

Cervero’s lawyer, Edson Ribeiro, didn’t instantly reply to request for remark however had beforehand tried to maneuver the case away from Judge Moro within the southern metropolis of Curitiba, arguing the Supreme Court ought to take the case after Cunha’s title was talked about. Only Brazil’s excessive courtroom can legally attempt sitting lawmakers and ministers.

Moro, who has turn out to be the face of an anti-corruption motion, defended his proper to attempt the case. The broader scheme was found in his state and associated details are required to stay with the identical decide, he wrote.

Cervero’s 12 years and three-month sentence was the second he has obtained from Moro. In May he was sentenced to 5 years in jail for utilizing a entrance firm to launder cash stolen from Petrobras and purchase a luxurious house in Rio de Janeiro. He was fired from Petrobras in 2014 and arrested in January as he stepped off a airplane from Europe.

Executives at Samsung Heavy Industries usually are not being charged and the corporate has not responded to request for remark concerning the case. (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Dan Grebler)