SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras says it has agreed to pay more than $850 million in penalties for covering up bribes to Brazilian politicians and political parties.
Petrobras said in a Thursday securities filing that the penalties total $853.2 million. It said Brazil will receive 80 percent of that amount and the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission will receive 10 percent each.
The U.S.Department of Justice said Thursday that Petrobras agreed to pay “to resolve the U.S. government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with Petrobras’s role in facilitating payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil.”.
Brazilian prosecutors have said that construction companies, with contracts from Petrobras, payed billions of dollars in kickbacks to politicians and other public officials.
