Former Petrobras international division director convicted

Federal Judge Sergio Moro, in charge of the investigations under Operation Car Wash, sentenced Monday (Feb 1) former Petrobras International Division Director Jorge Zelada to 12 years and two months of imprisonment for the crimes of passive corruption and money laundering, in addition to a fine.

Zelada was charged with passive corruption “for having accepted illicit benefits for himself as well as other people in the contract between Petrobras and Vantage Drilling on the provision of drillship Titanium Explorer” and money laundering “for having concealed the fruits of the crime of corruption in secret accounts held overseas.”

Apart from Zelada, Moro convicted Eduardo Costa Vaz Musa, former Petrobras international division manager, for passive corruption and money laundering. According to the sentence, since Musa agreed to a plea bargain, the sentence, originally set at 11 years and eight months in jail, was cut to ten years.

In the charge filed by the Federal Public Prosecution Office, Zelada and Eduardo Musa agreed to receiving bribes adding up to $31 million from Hamylton Padilha and Novu Su in order to favor the contract with Vantage Drilling Corporation in January 2009 on the lease of drillship Titanium Explorer for Petrobras for the price of $1.816 billion.

João Augusto Rezende Henriques, identified as PMDB's lobbyist in the scheme, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for passive corruption “through the participation and mediation in the acquisition of wrongful benefits in the contract between Petrobras and the firm Vantage Drilling on the provision of drillship Titanium Explorer.”

Another convict is Hamylton Pinheiro Padilha Júnior, sentenced for active corruption and money laundering. In the ruling, his sentence was reduced by his agreeing to a plea bargain, going from 12 years and two months in jail to eight years.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira