CADE declares noncompliance of agreement with UTC Engenharia within Car Wash investigations

CADE’s Administrative Tribunal declared the complete noncompliance of the Cease and Desist Agreements (TCC, in its acronym in Portuguese) signed by UTC Engenharia within the investigations of the Car Wash operation. From the decision, issued in the judgment session that took place on April 25, the construction company will return to respond to the Administrative Proceedings and will be fined BRL 200,000 for each of the two proceedings.

In January 2017, UTC signed the agreements with CADE in the proceedings that investigate bid-rigging in Petrobras onshore contracts and in the assembly of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant. The Agreements envisage a pecuniary contribution totaling BRL 139.1 million. Petrobras’ bid rigging process corresponded to R$ 129.2 million of this value. It is the biggest contribution ever negotiated between CADE and a company.

The first share of the contribution should have been paid in December of the last year when UTC requested CADE to extend the deadline for payment. The request was denied and the company kept in default, and so the Federal Prosecution Service at CADE (PFE/CADE in its acronym in Portuguese) recommended the opening of a proceeding to investigate the noncompliance.

Based on the opinion of PFE/CADE, the Administrative Tribunal conceded UTC the deadline of 30 calendar days, counting from company notification, for payment of the BRL 200,000 fine for each proceeding. The penalty was already foreseen in a clause of the TCC, in case of noncompliance with any commitment assumed by the company.

UTC will, once again, become a defendant under the Administrative Proceedings, and will respond to the accusations in the same conditions as the other parties represented. If condemned at the end of the investigations, a fine may be issued varying from 0,1% to 20% of its income, among other penalties determined by law.

The committed individuals of both TCCs, Ricardo Ribeiro Pessôa and Antonio Carlos D'Agosto Miranda, paid their debts within the deadline established, fulfilling the agreement until this moment.

Investigations

The Administrative Proceeding that investigates the cartel in Petrobras contracts was initiated in December 2015 from a Leniency Agreement signed with Setal Engenharia e Construções, SOG Óleo e Gás and individuals that worked for the Setal/SOG group. The agreement was signed along with the Federal Prosecution Service of the state of Paraná (Car Wash Operation task force).

In its turn, the probing of Angra 3, initiated in November 2015, was supported by the Leniency Agreement signed with the construction company Camargo Corrêa, also in collaboration with the task force of the Car Wash Operation.