Switzerland has given Brazil access to the bank accounts of Brazilian politicians and executives at Petrobras that could shed light on allegations of corruption at the state oil group, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said.

 

Switzerland's highest court, the Swiss Federal Court, rejected a last appeal by some of those involved after a lower court had allowed the transfer of documents.

 

A Brazilian investigation into Petrobras has uncovered systemic corruption at multiple companies and at the highest levels of government. Allegations of bribes and political kickbacks in the case have triggered protests across Brazil.

 

Last year the OAG widened the Swiss part of the investigation to include Latin America's largest engineering company, Odebrecht SA, and its subsidiaries.

 

The latest release of documents comes "in the context of the Petrobras-Odebrecht case", an OAG spokesman said on Wednesday.

 

Swiss prosecutors have said they have received reports of about 340 suspicious banking relations in the case, opened about 60 inquiries and frozen roughly $800 million since 2014.

 

Swiss authorities have requested documents relating to more than 1,000 accounts from more than 40 banks.

 

The owners of the Swiss accounts are "senior executives of Petrobras and of its suppliers, financial intermediaries, Brazilian politicians and directly or indirectly Brazilian or other foreign companies", the OAG has said.