The former mining and oil billionaire who was once Brazil’s richest man, Eike Batista, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday for bribing then-Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral, according to Bloomberg. He paid the governor about $16.5 million in exchange for state contracts.
Batista’s companies won state contracts in exchange for the bribe, including one for the rights to run the Maracana in Rio. The bribes were also linked to the construction of the $3.7 billion Açu port facility.
Batista paid a quarter of the bribes to Cabral in cash and the rest in shares of state-led oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, miner Vale SA and drinks company Ambev SA, a unit of Anheuser Busch Inbev NV, Reuters reported.
