Petrobras' management during the FHC era is under scrutiny by the courts.
"I cannot wash my hands of it," said Minister Eliana Calmon, rapporteur at the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) in the case concerning the agreement signed between Petrobras and Repsol-YPF 13 years ago; the Brazilian state-owned company allegedly ceded US$3 billion in assets and received only US$750 million; "What is said and seen about Petrobras cannot be disregarded by the magistrate. There have been many disastrous deals made by Petrobras," added Eliana; the attempt by the PSDB party to turn Petrobras into an electoral issue for 2014 is hampered.
247 - The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) has been trying to use criticism of Petrobras' management as an electoral theme, already anticipating 2014. Besides the poor results presented by the state-owned company, the current focus is on... purchase of a refinery In the United States, Petrobras, under the management of José Sergio Gabrielli, acquired the property for 28 times its initial value. After much controversy, the state-owned company even... gave up on selling The refinery, as part of its divestment plan. The problem for the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) is that the government of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso still has pending legal issues regarding Petrobras.
Thirteen years after the Brazilian state-owned company and the Spanish company Repsol-YPF signed an asset swap agreement worth US$1 billion, the deal is still being debated in court. The Second Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) began analyzing on Tuesday whether the values of the swapped investments will need to undergo a judicial expert evaluation. The case's rapporteur, Minister Eliana Calmon, voted in favor of the evaluation, but the judgment was suspended at the request of Minister Castro Meira.
Commenting on the case, Eliana said she cannot "wash her hands of it." "What is said and seen about Petrobras cannot be disregarded by the magistrate. There have been many disastrous deals made by Petrobras," she commented. With the request for review, there is no date for the trial to resume. The issue is being discussed based on a class action lawsuit filed by five oil workers who work at the Alberto Pasqualini Refinery (Refap).
The case
Located in Canoas (RS), the refinery in question was one of the assets traded in the Repsol and Petrobras swap. According to the plaintiffs, the Brazilian state-owned company's assets were undervalued in the deal, while Repsol's were overvalued, which would represent damage to national assets. "We estimate that Petrobras received US$750 million and gave up US$3 billion in assets," says lawyer Claudio Leite Pimentel.
According to Eliana Calmon, an expert assessment is necessary because the asset valuations were based on values indicated by the companies themselves, without an independent audit. Lawyers for Petrobras and Repsol argue that an expert assessment is unnecessary, since the deal was approved by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), and the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).