RIO DE JANEIRO–A Brazilian judge yesterday accepted federal prosecutors' corruption charges against the treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party in connection to a sprawling graft scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras.Federal magistrate Sergio Moro, in the southern state of Parana, said in an email that party treasurer Joao Vaccari Neto was among 27 people whose charges were formally accepted.
That means more than 100 people now face charges related to the Petrobras case – and prosecutors say still have a lot of investigative work to do on what they're calling the largest corruption scheme yet uncovered in Brazil.
They allege that at least US$800 million in bribes and other illegal funds were paid by the nation's biggest construction and engineering firms to politically appointed Petrobras executives, who enriched themselves and funnelled the money into the campaign coffers of the Workers' Party and its allies.
AP