(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Brazil's Odebrecht construction conglomerate runs projects worldwide but its most sophisticated international activity may have been a corruption network involving politicians across Latin America.
One of the world's biggest construction companies, Odebrecht has built everything from the Grand Parkway highway in Texas to the Mariel port in Cuba. But the reach of its pay-to-play corruption scheme was no less ambitious.
Odebrecht, which is a major player in construction, engineering, agriculture and petrochemicals production, exports to more than 100 countries.
Founded in 1944 and employing 128,000 people according to 2015 figures — a number that plummeted after the corruption scandal broke — Odebrecht has long been a jewel in Brazil's industrial crown.
However, under the founder's grandson Marcelo Odebrecht the company became known for applying that same ambition and organisation to a bribery scheme so vast that it required its own company department and office space.
The way it worked, Odebrecht would bribe Brazilian politicians to get inflated construction contracts at state oil major Petrobras.
Odebrecht was also bribing politicians — sometimes right into their pockets, sometimes into party campaign slush funds — to get favourable legislation passed.
After enrolling much of the Brazilian political establishment, the company extended its scheme to other countries.
Probes have discovered Odebrecht bribery schemes in Mexico, Panama and Peru — pretty much anywhere in the region where the company sought contracts.
In December, the US Justice Department announced that Odebrecht would pay a $3.5bn fine — a record in international corruption cases — after admitting to paying $788mn in bribes across 12 countries.
In Colombia alone, according to a prosecutor there, Odebrecht paid more than $27.7mn in bribes.
Recent politicians targeted by prosecutors unravelling the scandal include:
— The Dominican Republic's Trade and Industry Minister Juan Temistocles Montas arrested in May;
— A dozen people, including former electricity minister Alecksey Mosquera and an uncle of the vice president, arrested in Ecuador;
— Peru's ex-president Ollanta Humala and his wife Nadine Heredia jailed on money-laundering charges in July;
— A Peruvian newspaper reported in August that opposition leader Keiko Fujimori has also come under suspicion of taking payments from the Brazilian firm;
— Emilio Lozoya, former chief executive at Mexican state oil company Pemex, was ordered in August to answer allegations that he took $10mn in Odebrecht bribes.
The latest twist is the allegation by Venezuela's fugitive ex-chief prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, that President Nicolas Maduro and the strongman's inner circle raked in Odebrecht bribes as their country's economy crumbled.
Ortega, who was fired after emerging as a top critic of Maduro, said the bribe-taking went all the way to the top.
'They are very worried and anxious, because they know we have details on all the co-operation, amounts and people who got rich, and that investigation involves Mr Nicolas Maduro and his inner circle, she told a meeting of Latin American prosecutors in Mexico by conference call last Friday.
Brazil's federal police said yesterday they launched a new phase of the 'Car Wash corruption probe, targeting individuals who allegedly favoured a private contractor to win business from state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.
The police served four search warrants in two states and the federal district, a statement said.
There was evidence that two individuals allegedly paid bribes to help an unnamed US-based company obtain Petrobras contracts, police said.
Last week, Brazilian authorities carried out two new phases of 'Car Wash, ensnaring US
asphalt maker Sargeant Marine, six Greek shipping companies and a former Brazilian congressman in the wide-ranging graft probe.
The phase announced yesterday targets two lawyers who allegedly participated in the scheme, and received commissions related to the hiring of an unnamed US company, according to the statement.
It is not clear if the US firm implicated last week is the same as the one this week, but the police said the latest operation extends the work of recent prior phases.
Separately, late Tuesday Brazil's Supreme Court agreed to put former president and current Senator Fernando Collor on trial on corruption charges.
Collor allegedly took millions of dollars in bribes between 2010 and 2014 to help UTC Engenharia and other firms win contracts with BR Distribuidora SA, the fuel distribution unit of Petrobras, according to prosecutors. Collor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Collor is the second former Brazilian president to face trial on corruption charges.
Earlier this month former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was found guilty on graft charges.
He is free, pending an appeal.
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