Ministry declares Swiss company Skanska ineligible.

Michèlle Canes, reporter for Agência Brasil - The Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Control declared the Swedish company Skanska Brasil Ltda. ineligible to contract with the Public Administration. The decision, signed by Minister Torquato Jardim, was published today (9) in the Official Gazette of the Union and the construction company is prohibited from signing new contracts with the Public Administration for at least two years.

The decision is the second penalty applied to one of the companies investigated by Operation Lava Jato. The first was made in April of this year, when the former Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), now the Ministry of Transparency, declared Mendes Júnior ineligible.

According to information from the ministry, this decision concludes the administrative process of holding Skanska Brasil accountable, initiated as a result of Operation Lava Jato. According to the statement released by the ministry, the accusation against the construction company was based on two irregularities foreseen in Law 8.666/93, "characterized by collusion between companies and the payment of bribes."

"It has been proven that Skanska coordinated its actions with competitors to reduce competitiveness in bidding processes. The construction company previously agreed with competitors providing services to Petrobras which bids each should win and who would submit cover bids to create an appearance of legitimacy," the statement says.

The process also demonstrated that the construction company paid bribes to public officials to secure a contract with Petrobras. "Furthermore, it was shown that the construction company paid bribes totaling R$ 3 million to public officials in order to secure a contract worth over R$ 1,3 billion with Petrobras for the expansion of the Cabiúnas Terminal in Rio de Janeiro, which demonstrates a lack of integrity," the text states. The Ministry also says that to carry out this operation, the construction company used a shell company with which it signed a "fictitious contract to conceal the bribe payment." The irregularities were verified between 2003 and 2012.

According to the ministry, the process used information gathered from bodies such as the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), and Petrobras itself, in addition to information shared by the Federal Court. The statement also says that Alberto Youssef, Paulo Roberto Costa, and Pedro José Barusco Filho, who signed plea bargain agreements within the scope of Lava Jato, were heard. The conclusions of the process, according to the ministry, will be forwarded to the MPF, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), and the Attorney General's Office (AGU) so that appropriate measures can be taken.

Defender

Agência Brasil contacted the company's press office and is awaiting a statement regarding the decision. According to a statement released by the MTFC, Skanska argued in its defense that the evidence obtained during the process was insufficient.

The Ministry confirmed the company's participation in the collusion. "However, the evidentiary proceedings conducted by the administrative process commission confirmed the company's participation in the collusion that operated with Petrobras and, above all, the payment of bribes to agents of the oil company through the simulation of a contract with a shell company," the statement says.

The text further states that the testimonies given in the plea bargains, which were shared by the Federal Court with the ministry, "report such modus operandi of Skanska, in the sense that the bribe would be paid to Renato Duque through the issuance of fake invoices by the shell company Energex, with which Skanska signed a simulated contract for the same amount as the bribe destined for the aforementioned former director of Petrobras," says the released statement.

The Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Control stated that the process was conducted in a way that guaranteed the right to a full defense and due process.