Investigators allege that construction and engineering firms paid corrupt officials in order to get lucrative contracts with Petrobras, one of the largest oil companies in the world. The bribes amounted to at least $800 million paid to individuals – but the company has not been able to say exactly how much money it has lost from these transactions.
Federal prosecutors will now focus their investigations on 54 Brazilian officials, including former President Fernando Collor de Mello, Senate President Renan Calheiros, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha, and former Energy Minister Edison Lobao, among others.
The extended investigations will not include current President Dilma Rousseff, who has already been completely cleared of any involvement.
According to Brazilian law, the Supreme Court must approve any investigation of politicians and cabinet members. The inquiry will be a drawn-out process, which means that official charges are not expected to be filed any time soon. If any charges are filed against top officials, the Supreme Court needs to approve those as well.
Prosecutors have already charged executives from six of Brazil's largest construction firms for allegedly paying Petrobras officials for contracts.