Petrobras CEO, five other senior executives resign

Feb. 4, 2015
Maria das Gracas Foster, chief executive officer of Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) since 2012, has resigned along with five other senior executives.

Maria das Gracas Foster, chief executive officer of Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) since 2012, has resigned along with five other senior executives.

The Petrobras board will meet on Feb. 6 to elect new senior executives, according to Reuters news agency, which cited a filing with Brazil’s securities regulator. The filing did not identify the five other senior executives.

New senior management will come from within Petrobras and elsewhere in the private sector.

Authorities in the past year have alleged a huge corruption scandal involving price-fixing, bribes, and kickbacks. Some 86 people have been implicated for criminal wrong-doing, according to The Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors have not implicated Foster in any indictments of former Petrobras executives.

Foster met on Feb. 3 at the Presidential palace in Brasilia with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, former chairwoman of Petrobras’s board.