US market regulator investigating Petrobras
Washington (AFP) - The US Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed documents from Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras in an ongoing investigation, Petrobras said in an SEC filing Tuesday.
The company, currently embroiled in a politically momentous corruption scandal at home, did not divulge the issues the subpoena relates to.
The SEC also would not confirm its investigation into the company.
Petrobras said in the filing that it "reiterates its commitment to cooperate with the US authorities with the same dedication that it has been cooperating with the authorities in Brazil."
In the Brazil investigation, authorities are looking into claims by a detained former Petrobras director that politicians, mostly allies of newly re-elected President Dilma Rousseff, received billions of dollars in kickbacks financed by cash creamed from inflated contracts.
There is no suggestion Rousseff was involved in the money-making scheme and she has vowed to support the wide-ranging investigation.
Separately, since earlier this year, Petrobras conducted an internal investigation of its 2006 purchase of a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, decided when Rousseff was chairperson of Petrobras. Critics say the company paid far more for the refinery than it was worth.
The company paid $1.1 billion for the refinery one year after the then-owner Transcor Astra Group of Belgium paid $42.5 million for it.
