SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – A jailed former director of Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petrobras has named dozens of lawmakers and at least one state governor who allegedly received kickbacks off the company’s contracts, the country’s main newspapers reported on Friday.
The revelation of potentially far-reaching corruption at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, threatens to become a major headache for President Dilma Rousseff a month before she seeks re-election in an Oct. 5 vote.
Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said on its online edition that 32 lawmakers were named by Paulo Roberto Costa, the former head of Petrobras’ refining and supply unit who was arrested on March 20 in a police investigation into money laundering called “Operation Car Wash.”
Another paper, Folha de S. Paulo, said Costa named 61 congressmen and senators.
The two papers said one governor was allegedly involved in the scheme although Veja, a weekly news magazine, said three state governors were named by Costa. He is naming collaborators as part of a plea bargain in hopes of getting a lesser sentence, according to Estado de S. Paulo.
