Brazil's former nuclear head sentenced to 43 years in prison for corruption

A Brazilian court on Thursday sentenced a former head of the state nuclear company Eletronuclear to 43 years in prison.

The sentence imposed on Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva is one of the toughest handed down as part of the investigation into the Petrobras corruption ring.

Pinheiro da Silva was found guilty of corruption and money laundering within the Petrobras corruption ring, along with 12 other people, including his daughter Ana Cristina da Silva Toniolo, who was sentenced to 14 years and 10 months in prison.

Pinheiro da Silva was found to have organized bribes for the contracts signed between Eletronuclear and construction companies Andrade Gutierrez and Engeviz for the construction of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant in Rio de Janeiro.

Investigations found various irregularities in the contracts for building Angra 3, including fraud in the tendering process, bribes to public officials and favoritism in the assignment of contracts.

The contracting process was overseen by Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of the state electric company Eletrobras, and was orchestrated to be in favor of several private companies involved in the corruption ring.

The Petrobras corruption ring is estimated to have embezzled at least 2 billion U.S. dollars between 2004 and 2014, leading to the arrests of dozens of government officials, Petrobras staff and executives of private companies. Endi