The French manufacturer Alstom was sentenced along with other companies and officials to a collective fine of nearly 45 million euros by a Brazilian court for a collapse on the construction site of a metro line in Sao Paulo in 2007 which caused seven dead.
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The court of justice of the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil ordered six people, at the time responsible for the company managing the metro, and seven companies involved in the project to pay a collective fine of 44.8 million euros believing that their “administrative error” had led to the collapse.
The decision, which can be appealed, also bans the convicted officials from working in the public sector and the companies involved from contracting public contracts in Brazil for five years.
Present in Brazil for sixty-five years
Alstom has been present in Brazil for more than 65 years.
The company, which employs nearly 700 employees in the country, also built the Rio de Janeiro metro, the Porto Alegre metro, the Brasilia metro and the Rio de Janeiro tramway.
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On January 12, 2007, workers were carrying out excavation work for the Pinheiros metro station, in the west of the Brazilian economic capital, when a large sinkhole opened up, swallowing up part of a nearby road.
Pedestrians and vehicles were swept away in a pile of earth, asphalt and concrete.
In addition to the people who died, more than 90 buildings in the area had to be demolished or condemned.
According to the investigation, despite signs of structural weakness at the tunnel site, "the drilling was carried out in an already fragile location, and the necessary support structures were not immediately installed", according to Judge Marcos de Lima Carried in his judgment.
He added: “This approach proved not only dangerous, but also negligent, clearly placing the site at imminent risk of collapse.”
Other sanctioned companies include Brazilian construction and engineering giants OAS (now Grupo Metha), Queiroz Galvao, Camargo Correa and CBPO, a subsidiary of Odebrecht (now Novonor).