Petrobras may need to pay US$1.6b in penalties

Rio de Janeiro

BRAZIl'S Petrobras may need to pay record penalties of US$1.6 billion or more to settle US criminal and civil probes into its role in a corruption scandal, a person recently briefed by the company's legal advisers told Reuters.

State-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, expects to face the largest penalties ever levied by US authorities in a corporate corruption investigation, according to the source, who has direct knowledge of the company's thinking. The settlement process could take two to three years, the source said.

To date, the largest settlement of corporate corruption charges with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was a 2008 agreement with Siemens AG, the German industrial giant. It agreed to …