Brazil filed a civil lawsuit against Maersk and former executives representing the company for alleged corruption involving shipping contracts with Petrobras.
As Reuters reports, the lawsuit requests that a judge freeze almost $198 million in assets in order to make sure funds are available to pay for damages resulting from the alleged scheme.
Namelt, prosecutors say that there is of bribe payments to Petrobras employees in exchange for privileged information that allowed Maersk to secure shipping contracts between 2006 and 2014. Former employees of Petrobra were also included in the lawsuit.
Maersk said the investigation is ongoing and that it will not comment further on the case. As for Petrobras, it said that has been recognized by Brazilian authorities as the victim of an array of corruption schemes uncovered by prosecutors in recent years.
Last week, prosecutors took a similar action against oil trader Trafigura for allegedly bribing Petrobras employees in order to secure fuel shipments.
What is more, earlier in August, Brazilian prosecutors pressed criminal charges against two individuals involved in the alleged Maersk bribery scheme.
