Brazilian prosecutors have accused executives from the Techint Group, a holding that owns Latin America-focused steelmaker Ternium and tube maker Tenaris, of corruption, SteelOrbis has learned.
According to a document obtained by SteelOrbis, prosecutors claim Techint and Tenaris-related executives bribed a former executive of Brazilian state-run oil giant Petrobras to benefit Confab Industrial SA, also known as Tenaris Confab, a subsidiary of Tenaris.
Techint owns Tenaris, which in turn owns Confab Industrial S.A or Tenaris Confab, an ERW rolling mill and a SAW rolling mill with one spiral line and one longitudinal line.
Confab Industrial SA has a welded pipe manufacturing facility located in the city of Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo state, with a 500,000 mt/year capacity. According to Tenaris, it processes steel coils and plates to produce welded steel pipes with an outside diameter range from 5 1⁄2 to 100 inches for various applications, including OCTG and line pipe for oil, petrochemical and gas applications.
Prosecutors argued that Techint executives paid over $10 million to Renato Duque, a former director of services for Petrobras, to award Confab contracts between 2007 and 2010 in both Brazil and Argentina.
The scheme resulted in nine tubing contracts awarded Petrobras by to Confab, which were worth at the time BRL 2.6 billion ($557.9 million), prosecutors estimated. Prosecutors labeled the corruption scheme as “complex” and “sophisticated.”
Prosecutors also claimed the Techint Group hired a consulting company and “intermediaries” to act as a money laundering point between the holding and the Petrobras former executive. Prosecutors said evidence was obtained through international legal cooperation.