Brazilian police said they launched a probe into bribes and overbilling in two large railway contracts, serving search and seizure warrants on Friday in six states and the capital Brasilia.
Prosecutors said the operation was based on testimony from plea and leniency deals with construction firm Camargo Correa SA in an ongoing corruption probe into price fixing and political kickbacks at state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA.
Police said in the state of Goias alone, the embezzlement of 630 million reais ($160 million) had been detected for segments under construction for the North-South Railway, a long-delayed project that would ease shipments of corn and soybeans.
They are also investigating the so-called Fiol, tracks that would connect the landlocked state of Tocantins to the coast of Bahia.
Camargo Correa confessed to bribing the former president of state-run Valec, which was responsible for building the railways, as part of a settlement with prosecutors last year in which it agreed to pay more than 800 million reais ($201.5 million) in fines and indemnities
Brazil Energy Insight 
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