The Italian court has opened a trial against Brazilian steel pipe giant Tenaris, for alleged improper payments made to its subsidiary Confab Industrial S.A., in Brazil. However, Tenaris has denied these allegations.
The case involves Paolo Rocca, Chairman and chief executive officer, Tenaris, the company’s board members Gianfelice Rocca and Roberto Bonatti, and Tenaris’ controlling shareholder, San Faustin S.A. It revolves around alleged bribes paid to an executive at Brazilian oil and energy group Petrobras, to win contracts worth around €1.4bn ($1.5bn), according media reports.
The company’s counsel previously reviewed the Italian prosecutors’ investigative file and informed the board last week that neither that file nor the magistrate’s decision set forth evidence of involvement by any of the three directors in the alleged wrongdoing, Tenaris said in a statement on Feb 14, without disclosing further details of the trial.
The Italian authorities claimed a manager at Italy’s Techint Group, which controls Tenaris and Ternium, allegedly paid €6.6mn to a Petrobras executive between 2009 and 2014.
Neither Ternium nor any of its subsidiaries are involve in those proceedings, Ternium said in a separate press release on Friday.