Rio de Janeiro, Jul 30 (EFE).- A judge accepted corruption, money laundering and criminal conspiracy charges filed by prosecutors against Otavio Marques de Azevedo, president of Brazilian builder Andrade Gutierrez, one of the companies implicated in a bribery and kickback scheme centered on state-controlled oil giant Petrobras.
The decision was made Wednesday by Curitiba, Brazil-based federal Judge Sergio Moro, who is heading up the investigation into the so-called "Car Wash" scandal, judiciary sources said Wednesday.
He also accepted formal charges against 12 additional suspects, including other top officials at Andrade Gutierrez who, like Marques de Azevedo, will now be considered defendants in the case.
It came one day after that same judge agreed to accept those same charges against 13 other people, including the CEO and other top executives of Brazil's leading construction company, Odebrecht.
In addition to Marques de Azevedo, other Andrade Gutierrez executives Elton Negrao de Azevedo Junior, Antonio Pedro Campello de Souza Dias and Paulo Roberto Dalmazzo also will remain jailed awaiting trial as a result of Moro's ruling.
Investigators say Andrade Gutierrez, Odebrecht and other Brazilian construction groups formed a cartel to overcharge Petrobras, splitting the extra money with corrupt oil company officials while setting aside some of the loot to pay off politicians who provided cover for the graft.
In April, the state-controlled oil company wrote off $2 billion in bribery-related costs.
Among other targets of the wide-ranging Petrobras probe are some 50 politicians, including the leaders of both houses of Congress.
Also behind bars is Joao Vaccari, former treasurer of President Dilma Rousseff's Workers Party.
