Brazil targets 2 Petrobras contractors in corruption probe

[SAO PAULO] Brazilian police said on Friday they were targeting two large Petrobras contractors with domestic and international operations in the latest stage of is corruption investigation into the state-run oil company.

Some 220 federal officers were conducting eight preventive arrests, four temporary arrests, nine detentions, and 38 orders to seize documents in four Brazilian states, according to a federal police statement.

Federal police did not identify which contractors it was targeting, but Brazilian media said federal agents were raiding the offices of Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez.

Representatives for both companies were not immediately available to comment.

The so-called "Lava Jato" probe has led to the indictment of scores of executives from Brazil's top builders and implicated dozens of politicians, most of them from President Dilma Rousseff's Workers' Party, who allegedly received graft money. It has shaken Ms Rousseff's government and weighed on a recession-bound Brazilian economy.

REUTERS