Aziz wants investigation into Petrobras refinery sale – 03/09/2023 – Market

Senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), chairman of the Transparency, Governance, Inspection and Control and Consumer Defense Commission of the Senate (CTFC), said this Thursday (9) that he will open an investigation into the sale of the Petrobras refinery Landulpho Alves (Rlam), in Bahia, for the Mubadala Capital fund, from the United Arab Emirates.

“Any violation of the interest of the Union, related to the attempt to embezzle jewels, or any act that has generated advantages for authorities in this sale, will be taken to court for punishment of those involved”, said Aziz on Twitter.

“The commission’s first step will be to request documents from Petrobras on the assessment of the price below the market value of the Brazilian asset for foreigners,” he added.

The day before, the Single Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) said it had submitted a request to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) to investigate a possible relationship between jewelry allegedly sent by the Saudi Arabian government to the Bolsonaro family and the sale of the refinery in Bahia.

Mubadala Capital is the sovereign fund of the United Arab Emirates, not Saudi Arabia, but the federation noted in a note that both countries are geographically close and that former president Jair Bolsonaro would have stated in a recent interview that the gift had been arranged in the Emirates Arabs.

Rlam, renamed Mataripe Refinery after the sale, was sold together with its logistics assets for US$ 1.8 billion. According to the FUP, the Institute for Strategic Studies on Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (Ineep) estimated its value at between US$ 3 billion and US$ 4 billion.

The Federal Police opened an investigation this week after the Federal Revenue reported that the Bolsonaro government did not adopt the necessary procedures for the incorporation into public assets of jewelry presented by the Saudi government to a Brazilian delegation that visited the country in 2021. Part of the jewelry was retained at the Federal Revenue in Guarulhos —a set valued at 16.5 million reais—, while another package was delivered to the Presidency.

Bolsonaro received a package of gifts supposedly sent by the Saudi government and decided to keep them in his personal collection, in an action that his lawyer, Frederick Wassef, said was legal because they were “very personal” goods.