09/25/2014 -
In 13 days, Brazilian businessman Eike Batista has been accused three times by the Prosecution Office for committing five crimes while he acted as administrator and stockholder of the oil company OGX (currently called Ogpar) and the shipyard OSX.
The most recent accusation was put forward on Tuesday (September 23rd) by the Prosecutor General Karen Kahn, at the Prosecution Office in the city of São Paulo.
She attributed the businessman with crimes of false identity, conspiracy and manipulation of financial markets towards error, after influencing investor expectations.
Also accused were the director of Ogpar, Reinaldo Belotti, former president Luiz Eduardo Carneiro and directors Marcelo Torres, Paulo Mendonça, Paulo Guimarães, Roberto Monteiro and José Roberto Faverest, accused of manipulating the market.
The Prosecutor General also requested their restraint of assets to guarantee the payment of fine compensation, in case they are sentenced. Batista's accusations could add up to 14 years of imprisonment, while the executives could add up to 22 years.
This latest accusation alleges that Batista and the executives gave false expectations to the financial markets by providing optimistic information about the company's petrol reserves between 2009 and 2013 - OGX estimated to have 10.8 billion barrels worth of oil.
As Folha anticipated in 2012, OGX knew there was no oil in the company's main areas. Even so, it declared in March 2013 that those areas were commercially feasible, before it was proven otherwise four months later.
Batista's promise to invest US$1 billion at the event of a capital shortage, back in 2012, was also considered fraudulent, after he went back on this decision in 2013, after mentioning a change of plans.
According to the prosecutor, Batista knew from the start that he would not keep his promise. Last week, Kahn accused Batista for supposedly selling shares that belonged to the shipyard OSX in April 2013, before the company went into administration.
On September 11th, Rio de Janeiro's Prosecution Office accused Batista for manipulation of financial markets, insider trading and for selling shares before any negative facts were circulated. The judge froze R$117 million in the businessman's accounts.
The Federal Police are also investigating Batista for money laundering. The Prosecution Office will authorize breach of banking secrecy during this investigation.
THE OTHER SIDE
Batista's lawyer, Sérgio Bermudes, has said that the latest accusation brings the focus back to the previous investigations. "The Prosecution Office sees crimes where there aren't any."
Belotti and Carneiro were contacted but did not comment. Torres and Faveret did not respond to messages. Mendonça, Monteiro and Guimarães could not be located. The companies OGX and OSX have gone into administration.
Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA