This Monday afternoon (May 11), Petrobras CEO Aldemir Bendine participated in a ceremony to return to Petrobras sums recovered through the Federal Police’s “Operação Lava Jato” anti-corruption investigation.

At the event, a symbolic handover of R$157 million to the company took place, in reference to the sums retrieved by the Federal Public Prosecution Ministry through Operação Lava Jato. The ceremony was held at the headquarters of the Office of the Chief Federal Prosecutor, in Brasília. These sums were kept in secret accounts in Switzerland and repatriated through joint work by the Federal Public Prosecution Ministry, the Federal Police, the Federal Revenue Service and the Federal Courts. The judicial bank account that is receiving back the stolen amounts now has a balance of approximately R$205 million.

Bendine emphasized the importance of the event for the company at its current moment. “A day like this, when we retake the first installment of the resources lost through these practices, reinforces that Petrobras is on the right track to overcome this crisis and become once more a source not just of pride, but also good prospects and good results for its employees, shareholders and the whole of Brazilian society,” he said. He also stressed the company’s efforts to recover the stolen resources and to collaborate with the investigations conducted by the public authorities.

“In another area, we have jointly filed lawsuits for improper conduct against former employees and executives, and companies. We have filed two requests and over the next two weeks we will lodge three more. In this first batch of lawsuits alone, we expect to recover R$1.3 billion, plus moral damages, whose values have not yet been determined,” stated Bendine.

The chief federal prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot Monteiro de Barros, stressed the importance of the money’s return. “We are doing our part by guaranteeing that the money diverted through corruption is returned to Petrobras’ coffers.” Janot added that one of the objectives of the public authorities’ action is to recover what was taken from a company that fell victim to a criminal scheme.

The ceremony was opened by the federal public prosecutor of the state of Paraná, Deltan Martinazzo Dallagnol, who is coordinating the Lava Jato task force. According to him, the initiative has been a historic milestone for Brazilian institutions. “This return of money gives us hope. The millions that are being returned today to Petrobras were obtained through collaborative agreements involving the Federal Public Prosecution Ministry, those under investigation and defendants.”

The event was also attended by federal judge Nivaldo Brunoni, who is the director of the Paraná Judicial Service; the vice-president of the Brazilian Association of Federal Judges (Ajufe), Candice Galvão; Federal Police officer Erika Miali; and the head of the Research and Investigation Office of the 9th Fiscal Region of the Federal Revenue Service, Roberto Leonel.