(Reuters) – The chief compliance officer at Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras has communicated plans to step down in March, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in what would be the third swap of the company’s top corruption buster in three years.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, has already launched a process to find a possible replacement for Marcelo Zenkner, a former prosecutor who took the job in July 2019, said one of the sources, who like the others requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters.
Zenkner said he did not want to renew his contract, which expires at the end of March, for personal reasons, the people said. Petrobras typically renews contracts for its executive board at an annual shareholders meeting around April. His departure has not been made official.
Petrobras declined to comment. Zenkner did not respond to requests for comment on social media, and the company did not make him available for an interview.
Petrobras has made significant strides in its anti-corruption programs after becoming the focus of Brazil’s largest graft investigation ever, know as Car Wash, in 2014.
The company created a compliance department from scratch, among other measures, after the multi-billion-dollar bribes-for-contract racket led to the indictments of dozens of high-ranking businessmen and politicians throughout Latin America.
But the compliance seat has turned over faster than other positions on the executive board.
Brazil Energy Insight 
Leave a comment