The boss of Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras has vowed to clean up its act as it wrote off a whopping $16.8 billion (£11.2 billion) to account for 10 years of alleged bribes and a one-off writedown.
Petrobras said it had taken a $2 billion charge for costs related to the corruption scandal, which could involve more than 40 senior politicians over the past decade.
The company, which had been riding high in recent years on the back of Brazil’s oil boom, also announced a $14.8 billion impairment charge as the hydrocarbon price slide and cost overruns at refineries dragged down the value of its assets.
It said the charges took the group into an overall loss of $7.2 billion for 2014.
“Today is an important day, not only for us but for the whole company. We are cleaning up mistakes,” said chief Aldemir Bendine.
Petrobras has been embroiled in a corruption scandal in which it is alleged that bribes were paid to secure lucrative contracts.
The case has sent shock waves across Brazil prompting hundreds of thousands to protest last month against President Dilma Rousseff, who chaired the board of Petrobras for much of the period the alleged bribes happened.
She denies any involvement and has been cleared by the attorney general.
