Bruno Calfat Advogados represented a large engineering company in a special account audit proceedings before the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas da União – TCU – an independent government body responsible for auditing public expenditures and overseeing the use of federal funds), aimed at investigating alleged damages to the treasury arising from the methodology applied in calculating indemnification amounts owed by Petrobras to the company, due to the suspension of the construction works on the Barra do Riacho Terminal and the interconnection pipelines linking the Terminal to the Cacimbas Gas Treatment Unit, as result of rainfall.
Upholding the defense’s arguments, TCU concluded that it would not be appropriate to impose a duty to reimburse the public treasury, as it would be unfeasible to reliably determine whether the amount calculated exceeded the actual amount owed. In addition to the uncertainty regarding the alleged damages, TCU noted that the amounts in question—estimated using unreliable criteria—were proportionally small in relation to the contract’s overall value, ranging from 0.5% to 2%, thus distinguishing the case from other proceedings currently before the court.
In view of the inadequacy of the estimate, the TCU ruled for the dismissal of the proceeding with respect to the initially assessed debts.