Brazil energy giant paid bribes to parties: press

Brazil's state-run energy giant Petrobras funneled kickbacks to officials from political parties, AFP rports citing the weekly Epoca news magazine. Epoca cited evidence from lobbyist Joao Augusto Rezende, a former head of BR Distribuidora, a Petrobras subsidiary. Augusto told the weekly he handled all Petrobras's foreign contracts and collected a "fee" from the companies involved. The lobbyist for the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which is part of President Dilma Rousseff's ruling coalition, said between 60 to 70 percent of the graft money was passed on to the PMDB. Joao Vaccari Neto, the ruling Workers Party's finance secretary, meanwhile received the equivalent of $8 million in kickbacks from Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht as part of a Petrobras international contract during Rousseff's 2010 presidential campaign, Epoca also reported. The weekly quoted Augusto as saying he and Vaccari arranged for the money to be transferred to the Rousseff campaign. But Vaccari was quoted as saying he was not in charge of the Rousseff campaign's finances and that all donations were made "within the law." Odebrecht denied any irregularities in the contract with Petrobras.