Investors in Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-run oil company at the center of a kickback scandal in Brazil, expanded their lawsuit against the company by adding claims that auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP turned a “blind eye” to the fraud and “ignored obvious red flags.”

Petrobras and its senior executives violated provisions of U.S. and Brazilian corporate law, as well as the South American nation’s securities laws, civil code and Securities Commission regulations, according to the revised complaint filed Friday in Manhattan federal court.

The amended lawsuit revolves around claims that Petrobras executives engaged in a multiyear, multibillion-dollar money-laundering and bribery scheme that was concealed from investors. It notes that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is struggling to contain damage from the scandal, was chairwoman of Petrobras from 2003 to 2010.

The court filing also includes testimony released by a Brazilian federal court that the executive in charge of Petrobras’ refining division confessed that the company accepted kickbacks for giving inflated construction contracts and “then used the money to bribe politicians through intermediaries to guarantee they would vote in line with the ruling party while enriching themselves.”

Pension Fund

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan on March 4 appointed New York law firm Pomerantz LLP and its client, a Liverpool, England-based pension fund, to lead a class of investors who claim they lost money when the scheme became public and shares plunged. Rakoff is presiding over a group of combined securities fraud suits filed by investors who bought Petrobras’s American Depositary Receipts.

Marcia Avruch, a spokeswoman for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the company hadn’t been notified of the lawsuit.

As of mid-March, the Brazilian government’s probe had already led to 40 indictments on racketeering, bribery and money-laundering charges, according to the complaint. Suppliers to the Rio de Janeiro-based energy company allegedly bribed executives to win contracts at projects ranging from refineries to offshore drilling rigs, according to court documents filed in Brazil.

Petrobras said it received a subpoena in November from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requesting documents.

Petrobras has said it’s a victim in the scheme and is working to recover money lost to graft.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-30/petrobas-investors-add-new-claims-in-lawsuit-claiming-kickbacks
[size=16pt]Petrobas is Brazil National oil company similar to NNPC they are facing the same scandal as Nigeria in terms of missing funds.PWC is being accused of helping Petrobas to cover up billions of dollars stolen[/size][size=8pt][/size]

Kkk

PWC will most likely be exonorated in this case

Auditors are not crime investigators. Auditors will audit wahatever is presented to them. They do not go to their client with the mind to find fraud. If fraud is suspected they put that in their report. The auditor isn't there to catch theives.

I hope that fact is established - auditors' job

belabela:
PWC will most likely be exonorated in this case

Auditors are not crime investigators. Auditors will audit wahatever is presented to them. They do not go to their client with the mind to find fraud. If fraud is suspected they put that in their report. The auditor isn't there to catch theives.

I hope that fact is established - auditors' job

Why were'nt they able to discover the fraud in Brazil which by some estimates is close to $200 billion dollars. Why did'nt they catch the over valuation and inflation of the price paid for a refinery bought by Petrobas by over $800 millions for example which the executives pocketed. What good is an auditor if he can't catch such massive frauds in the books

WHERE IS THE $20billion

And some GEJ die hard supporters will come here to tell us that the audit firm is an international well recognised firm. I wonder who this current corrupt government will bring in for auditing in the first place !!!!

sammyj:
And some GEJ die hard supporters will come here to tell us that the audit firm is an international well recognised firm. I wonder who this current corrupt government will bring in for auditing in the first place !!!!

The way they've been mentioning PWC not knowing they can still be corrupted and influenced by the enviroment they stay in,that why Buhari is going to do a comprehensive audit. What really made him want to do it was to visit to him Mohammed Sanusi ex-CBN governor who would have given him all the sensitive documents.