巴西石油女掌門爲何夜不能寐

Maria das Graças Foster is no average Brazilian executive. For a start, the chief executive of Petrobras is a woman — in fact, the first woman to lead an oil major. Nor was she born into a life of privilege but raised in one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous slums. After collecting scrap metal for cash as a child, she joined Petrobras as an intern in 1978 and accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer that would put any boss to shame.

瑪麗亞•格拉卡斯•福斯特(Maria das Graças Foster)並非等閒的巴西企業高管。首先，這位巴西國家石油公司(Petrobras)的前首席執行官是位女性——事實上，也是執掌大型石油企業的首位女性。她也沒有顯赫出身，相反她是在里約熱內盧最危險的貧民窟之一長大。小時候曾撿廢金屬賣錢的她，於1978年以實習生的身份進入巴西國家石油公司，逐漸對這家國有石油生產商瞭如指掌，足以讓任何一個老闆自慚形愧。

It is a remarkable career path but one that looks likely to end in a sadly familiar way by Latin American standards: with a corruption scandal. Over the past few months, Petrobras has become engulfed in the largest bribery and kickback investigation in Brazil’s history. Prosecutors believe that for much of the past decade, Petrobras executives conspired with Brazil’s largest construction firms to inflate the oil company’s contracts, stealing billions of dollars to fund lavish lifestyles, pay bribes and funnel money to politicians, largely from the ruling Workers’ party.

這是一條不同尋常的職業道路，但似乎也是一條很可能以拉丁美洲慣有的悲慘結局告終的道路：以腐敗醜聞的方式。在過去幾個月中，巴西國家石油公司捲入了該國史上最大的受賄與回扣案。檢察官相信，在過去十年大部分時間內，巴西國家石油公司高層與巴西最大的幾家工程建設公司合謀虛報該公司合同價格，從中牟取數十億美元用以享受奢侈生活、行賄以及向政客輸送資金，而受賄官員多出自執政的勞工黨(Workers'Party)。

While Ms Graças Foster has not been accused of involvement in the scheme, the straight-talking 61-year-old has repeatedly offered her resignation to President Dilma Rousseff. “The president thought I should stay,” she told reporters bluntly in December. The reality, analysts say, is that no sane executive would be willing to take over the company in its current uncertain state.

儘管格拉卡斯•福斯特並未被指捲入這一醜聞，但這位說話坦率的61歲女掌門多次向巴西總統迪爾瑪•羅塞夫(Dilma Rousseff)提出了辭職。“總統認爲我應該留下來，”去年12月她對記者坦言。分析師稱，實際情況是沒有哪個明智的高管會願意接手這家目前看來前景不明的公司。

As well as facing a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation in the US, Petrobras remains cut off from capital markets and risks technical default after its auditors PwC refused to approve its accounts in November. “Any potential candidate to replace Ms Graças Foster would be wary of coming on before the current executives sign off the damage,” says João Augusto de Castro Neves of Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.

除了要面對美國證券交易委員會(SEC)的調查，由於去年11月其審計機構普華永道會計事務所(PwC)拒絕覈實該公司的賬目，巴西國家石油公司仍然被擋在資本市場之外並面臨技術性違約的風險。“任何可能接替格拉卡斯•福斯特的人選都會心存警惕，不願在現任高管結束這個爛攤子前接手，”政治風險諮詢機構歐亞集團(Eurasia Group)的若昂•奧古斯托•德卡斯特羅•內維斯(João Augusto de Castro Neves)稱。

The scandal — dubbed “Car Wash” as petrol stations were allegedly used to launder some of the money — is not only a sorry turn of events for Ms Graças Foster but also for Petrobras and Brazil itself. After winning respect for its technological prowess and becoming the envy of the global industry in 2007 by making the largest offshore oil discoveries in decades, Petrobras may soon have to resort to a government bailout. Similarly, after wowing investors with 7.5 per cent growth in 2010, Brazil once again finds itself an object of ridicule in international markets as the corruption scandal threatens to deepen an expected recession this year. As former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso wrote in his memoirs, “hope followed by disappointment is a particularly Brazilian cycle”.

因加油站被指用於部分洗錢活動而被稱爲“洗車”(Car Wash)的醜聞，不論對格拉卡斯•福斯特個人，還是對巴西國家石油公司甚至巴西來說都是一個可悲的轉折點。由於發現了幾處數十年來最大的海上油田，2007年巴西國家石油公司在技術實力上贏得尊重，並且成爲全球石油業令人羨慕的對象。然而，如今該公司可能很快將不得不求助於政府援助。同樣，2010年巴西以7.5%的增長率令投資者驚豔，但今年因腐敗醜聞可能加深預期中的衰退程度，巴西發現自己再次成了國際市場嘲笑的對象。巴西前總統費爾南多•恩裏克•卡多佐(Fernando Henrique Cardoso)在其回憶錄中寫道：“希望之後是失望，這是典型的巴西式循環。”

Ms Graças Foster, a towering and somewhat gaunt figure, never appeared to harbour any illusions about the challenges that lay ahead when she became chief executive in February 2012.

格拉卡斯•福斯特是高個子，略顯瘦削，2012年2月出任首席執行官，當時她對即將面臨的挑戰似乎不抱任何幻想。

When asked in an FT interview that year about her ascension up the Petrobras ranks, she replied: “Power doesn’t come by itself, it comes with responsibility and it’s the responsibility I live with, which weighs on me, which wakes me up at two o’clock in the morning, takes me away from my friends, and makes me a more impatient and irritable person”. Despite having the vestiges of a personal life — a husband, two children, a granddaughter, and a love of cats and cooking — she has been quoted as saying she would “die” for the company that transformed her life.

那年，在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時被問及升職一事，格拉卡斯•福斯特回答稱：“權力不會獨自到來，而是伴隨着責任，那就是我要接受的責任，它壓在我身上，讓我到凌晨2點醒來，讓我遠離朋友，讓我成爲一個更易怒而急躁的人。”儘管她尚擁有一部分私人生活——丈夫、兩個孩子、一個孫女，愛貓，愛烹飪——但據稱她曾說過願意爲了這家改變她一生的公司而“死”的話。

New York and São Paulo quoted Petrobras itself was already in trouble when she took charge. Covert fuel subsidies to help the government battle inflation were costing the company billions of dollars and there was little Ms Graças Foster could do to change a practice that enraged private minority investors. She and Ms Rousseff had been close friends since the president’s days as an energy official in the 1990s.

在紐約和聖保羅兩地上市的巴西國家石油公司在格拉卡斯•福斯特接管時就已經陷入困境。幫助政府抵禦通脹而提供的隱蔽的燃料補貼，耗費了該公司數十億美元的資金，這一做法激怒了私人投資者，但格拉卡斯•福斯特對此無計可施。自20世紀90年代羅塞夫擔任能源官員起，她們便一直是親密的朋友。

Some say the weight on Ms Graças Foster’s shoulders was, in fact, the knowledge of a vast corruption scandal that had yet to come to light. Venina Velosa da Fonseca, a former Petrobras manager, said during a tearful television interview last month that she had warned several directors of inflated contracts in 2008, including Ms Graças Foster who was head of the gas and energy division at the time. Ms Graças Foster has vehemently denied she was aware of the scheme and Petrobras said it has been taking all necessary measures to investigate alleged irregularities.

有人說，格拉卡斯•福斯特肩上的壓力，實際上是她知道公司內存在一個尚未曝光的巨大腐敗醜聞。巴西國家石油公司前經理韋尼娜•韋洛薩達方茜卡(Venina Velosa da Fonseca)在不久前的電視採訪中含淚稱，她曾在2008年就虛報合同價格問題提醒過數位高管，其中包括當時主管天然氣和能源部門的格拉卡斯•福斯特。格拉卡斯•福斯特極力否認她事先知情，巴西國家石油公司則表示一直在採取所有必要措施對涉嫌違規行爲進行調查。

Whistleblower tales, along with rumours of death threats and money hidden in buried swimming pools have gripped Brazilians like a sordid soap opera, prompting both despair and fascination. But in two weeks’ time, many will finally get the chance to vent their frustration over the scandal in a typically Brazilian way — by dressing up for Carnival. Masks modelled on Ms Graças Foster’s face are expected to sell out.

舉報人講的故事，再加上死亡威脅的傳言和藏在被填埋的游泳池內的現金，就像一部鄙俗的肥皂劇一樣，緊緊抓住了巴西人的眼球，讓人們既心寒又好奇。但不久後，很多人將有機會用典型的巴西方式發泄對醜聞的憤怒——在嘉年華(Carnival)上喬裝打扮。仿照格拉卡斯•福斯特樣貌的面具預計將會熱銷。

Her no-nonsense management style has won her the nickname “the tank”, but Ms Graças Foster also knows how to have fun — a big rock fan, she once admitted to having tattoos in “places you can’t see with clothes on”, according to state-owned broadcaster EBC.

格拉卡斯•福斯特說一不二的管理風格爲自己贏得了“坦克”的綽號，但她也知道如何享受生活樂趣——她是個鐵桿的搖滾迷。據巴西國有廣播公司EBC報道，她曾承認自己在“衣服底下、你看不到的地方”有紋身。

Yet, she is unlikely to see the funny side this Carnival. More than most, Ms Graças Foster understands the struggles of Brazil’s less fortunate and that their capacity to accept perennial disappointment has limits. Protesters have taken to the streets to demand Ms Rousseff’s impeachment over the scandal — a proposition that is gaining some sympathy in the country’s increasingly dissatisfied Congress. Ms Rousseff, who was chair of Petrobras when much of the graft supposedly took place, has denied any involvement in the alleged scheme.

不過，她不太可能會看到嘉年華有趣的一面了。格拉卡斯•福斯特無比了解巴西窮人的艱辛，也知道他們接受再三失望的能力是有極限的。抗議者走上街頭，要求就醜聞一事彈劾羅塞夫——這一提議在日益不滿的巴西議會也獲得一些支持。據稱巴西國家石油公司內部的部分貪腐行爲發生在羅塞夫擔任該公司董事會主席期間。羅塞夫否認與賄賂醜聞有任何牽連。

If the protesters get their way, Brazil’s two first ladies may soon both be out of a job.

如果抗議者如願以償，那麼巴西兩位第一夫人可能都要失業了。