Brazil's Top Court Oks Probe Of Senior Politicians In Petrobras Scandal

(RTTNews) - Brazil's Supreme Court on Friday approved the investigation of dozens of top politicians for alleged corruption involving the state energy company Petrobras.

Senate President Renan Calheiros and Eduardo Cunha, head of the Chamber of Deputies, are among the list of 54 accused who will be investigated by the attorney general for corruption scandal. Renan Calheiros and Eduardo Cunha are members of PMDB party, Brazil's largest largest party and President Dilma Rousseff's main coalition ally.

Majority of politicians authorised to be investigated are part of the ruling coalition. One opposition politician, Antonio Anastasia of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, is also in the list.

Prosecution alleged that Brazil's biggest construction and engineering firms had paid bribes and other funds of at least $800 million to secure inflated contracts with Petrobras, with these amount diverted former Petrobras executives and others.