LISBON, (Reuters) – Portugal’s prosecutor general has ordered investigators to look into a request from Brazilian authorities for help with a probe into a scandal involving state-run oil company Petrobras.
A cartel of engineering firms, including Latin America’s giant Odebrecht SA, is accused of fixing prices and overcharging Petrobras in a scheme that allegedly helped finance the 2014 re-election campaign of President Dilma Rousseff.
In a statement yesterday, the prosecutor general’s office said the request for international law enforcement cooperation from Brazil was part of the “Car Wash” scandal, but its content and all subsequent investigations were covered by the secrecy of justice clause. It provided no further details.
The confirmation comes at a time when questionable liaisons between Portuguese and Brazilian businesses and their political connections are increasingly drawing attention from prosecutors in both countries and on a wider scale.
Federal prosecutors in Brazil have also opened an inquiry into whether former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva improperly used his connections overseas to benefit Odebrecht, which is Latin America’s largest engineering firm.
On Monday, Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho denied a report in Brazil’s daily O Globo that Lula had lobbied him to favour Odebrecht in a privatisation process during a visit to Lisbon in 2013.
“I want everyone to understand very clearly that ex-president Lula da Silva never asked me for any favours for any Brazilian company… That never happened,” he told reporters.
