The shares of steelmaking group Tenaris fell 7.3 percent on Wednesday from the day prior, from EUR 11.75 on Tuesday to EUR 10.90, following the indictment in Argentina of the group’s CEO, Paolo Rocca, as part of a corruption probe. The Rocca family owns 60 percent of Tenaris.
Rocca was reportedly associated with former leftist president Cristina Kirchner, who’s been prosecuted on corruption charges as well. A document filing said he paid bribes to former Kirchner government officials in 2008 to help Tenaris’ sister company, Sidor in Venezuela, when the now state-owned steelmaker was about to be nationalized by the Venezuelan government.
Rocca allegedly paid “at least” $1 million in bribes to avoid the Venezuelan government’s takeover. Rocca said he had no knowledge at any time of the payments.