Europe

(Photo: Eric Piermont/AFP)

Brazilian authorities on Wednesday accused Italian oil company Saipem of being involved in a corruption scheme involving Brazil’s state-run oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro SA, the latest international firm to be implicated in the wide-ranging scandal.

Brazilian federal prosecutors accused former Petrobras services director Renato Duque, who was arrested earlier this year for allegedly taking part in the scheme and is currently in prison, of accepting bribes from João Bernardi, a sales representative for Saipem in Brazil.

Both men were charged with money laundering and corruption on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that in exchange for Saipem winning contracts with Petrobras, Mr. Bernardi and colleagues paid $1 million in bribes to Mr. Duque through Swiss bank accounts, and gave him 13 works of art worth roughly $174,000.

The original article can be found at www.wsj.com