Former Petrobras Director Says Government "Broke" the Company and Calls Donations "Hypocrisy"

05/06/2015 - 10h14

In his fourth inquiry before the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry ) in Congress, the former Director of Petrobras Supply, Paulo Roberto Costa, called the donations made by companies to election campaigns "hypocrisy," and said the federal government "broke" Petrobras by freezing the price of gasoline.

Costa criticized the "political management" of Petrobras and said the losses - the result of the government's freezing the prices of fuel - was ten times bigger than the damage caused by the corruption scheme investigated by the Federal Police's Car Wash Operation.

"The biggest problem of Petrobras - which really "broke" the company - was the under valuation of the prices of petroleum derivates, controlled by the government. The government controlled the price of diesel, the price of gasoline, and that led to losses of possibly US$ 19.7 billion to US$ 26.3 billion. Let's imagine the amount lost was US$ 19.7 million. The Lava Jato scheme amounted to US$ 1.9 billion, which is 10% of the losses of Petrobras."

As he had already done during the leniency program testimonies, Costa criticized the donations made by private companies to election campaigns. He said he was told by businessmen that they made the donations to receive something in return.

"Why will a company donate US$ 6.5 million to a campaign if it doesn't have something to ask for in return in the future?," said Costa.

Asked by Valente, Costa confirmed the names of the politicians he had previously accused in his leniency program testimonies, fueling Valente's criticism that the investigation hasn't summoned any of those politicians to testify yet. Costa cited the PP, the PMDB and PT as they main beneficiaries.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress
	Paulo Roberto Costa called the donations made by companies to election campaigns "hypocrisy"