Lava Jato investigates bribes paid by an operator linked to Temer.
Investigators in the operation mapped US$7,5 million in bribes passed on by PMDB operative João Augusto Henriques Rezende, on behalf of the offshore company Acona International Investments Ltd. This amount was part of a total bribe of US$10 million allegedly paid in connection with Petrobras' purchase of an oil exploration field in Benin, Africa, in 2011, which reportedly resulted in a US$1,5 million payment to Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ). In a plea bargain, former senator Delcídio Amaral revealed that interim president Michel Temer was responsible for appointing João Augusto Henriques to the board of directors of BR Distribuidora during the government of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
247 - Those responsible for investigating the corruption scheme at Petrobras are mapping the path of a sum of bribes distributed by PMDB operative João Augusto Henriques Rezende, cited by Delcídio Amaral as someone appointed by interim president Michel Temer to the board of BR Distribuidora, through which he allegedly made illicit purchases of ethanol.
The $10 million bribe was allegedly paid in connection with the purchase of an oil exploration field in Benin, Africa, in 2011. The deal resulted in a $1,5 million payment to Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), the suspended president of the Chamber of Deputies. The Lava Jato investigation is now focused on identifying the whereabouts of the remaining $7,5 million.
João Augusto Henriques received a US$10 million "commission" from the Portuguese group Lusitanea Petroleum, owned by businessman Idalécio de Oliveira, through an irregular deal that caused losses to Petrobras – the Benin exploration field 4 was sold for US$34 million. On behalf of the offshore company Acona International Investments Ltd, he distributed the bribe to "the people who helped him in this transaction," as he himself stated in his testimony to the Federal Police.
The Lava Jato investigation identified that US$4,1 million was transferred to the account of the offshore company Sandfield Consulting SA, opened in Panama; US$2 million to Ample Power Limited, of Hong Kong; and US$1,7 million to Stingdale Holdings Inc., among others. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is now working to identify the owners of these accounts. João Henriques and the Portuguese businessman Idalécio de Oliveira became defendants in the Lava Jato case this Thursday, along with Cunha's wife, Cláudia Cruz.