Odebrecht | Fausta's Blog

February 9, 2017 By Fausta

Colombia & Peru: Presidents and Odebrecht

*Santos on the left, Toledo center, two other men*

Andrea Zarate reports on how the Odebrecht Corruption Scandal Ensnares Leaders of Peru and Colombia, specifically Toledo of Peru,

Peruvian prosecutors accused the former president, Alejandro Toledo, of accepting $20 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht in exchange for infrastructure contracts, including the rights to build a highway connecting Peru to Brazil.

and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Santos of Colombia,

In Colombia, prosecutors said Tuesday that President Juan Manuel Santos’s re-election campaign in 2014 might have received about $1 million from Odebrecht, according to The Associated Press. The country’s top prosecutor, Nelson Martinez, said the donations had come through a third party working on behalf of the company, The A.P. reported. Mr. Santos did not comment.

As you may recall, Odebrecht allegedly had a department in charge of bribing officials around the world. It appears they were very thorough.

January 24, 2017 By Fausta

Peru: Odebrecht pipeline contract cancelled UPDATE: Odebrecht expelled

As you may recall, Peru demanded cash from Odebrecht ahead of any plea deal talks.

Now the country is cancelling a contract with Odebrecht to build a $7-billion natural-gas pipeline:

Mines and Energy Minister Gonzalo Tamayo said on Monday the Southern Peruvian Gas Pipeline consortium, which is majority-owned by Odebrecht, failed to meet Monday’s deadline to secure financing and would be officially told on Tuesday that the contract will be rescinded.

Mr. Tamayo said the consortium would also be assessed a $262-million penalty for not completing the contract to build the 700-mile-long pipeline to transport cheap natural gas from the Amazon to towns across the southern highlands and on to the Pacific. Odebrecht has a 55% stake in the project. Spain’s Enagas has 25%, and Peru’s Graña y Montero has 20%.

Odebrecht has admitted to paying $29 million in bribes in Peru.

In other Odebrecht news, theBrazilian Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki, who

was scheduled to start reviewing testimony in coming weeks from 77 executives and employees of the Brazilian construction group Odebrecht, which last month signed a leniency agreement with U.S., Brazilian and Swiss authorities

died in an airplane crash last Thursday. President Michel Temer will name his replacement, who in turn “can either keep the process moving or bring it to a halt,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

UPDATE
Peru Moves to Oust Brazilian Construction Company Odebrecht Over Bribes. Peru is the second country to bar the company after Odebrecht admitted to paying hundreds of millions of dollars to win contracts

Last week, Colombia said it was working to remove Odebrecht from the country after the firm admitted paying $11 million to secure road and other projects.

Ecuador and Panama have also barred Odebrecht from signing contracts for new public works pending the completion of their probes.

January 4, 2017 By Fausta

Venezuela: Odebrecht and the missing $11billion UPDATED

Hugo Chávez awarded Odebrecht $11 billion in infrastructure contracts, and (surprise!) the projects were never finished:
Brazil Scandal Leaves Dreams Undone in Venezuela.Hugo Chávez contracted Odebrecht to build grand projects costing billions, but most remain frozen

The company paid $98 million to intermediaries for services in Venezuela, knowing the money would be passed as bribes to officials, according to a plea deal signed by the company and published in December by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hugo and his friend Lula were involved,

Brazilian prosecutors accuse Mr. da Silva of illegal lobbying to win Odebrecht contracts in a number of countries outside Brazil, including Venezuela, according to a spokeswoman for the prosecutors. His lawyers deny any wrongdoing by their client, who also faces other charges in Brazil.

Mr. Odebrecht’s in the clink, Lula’s under investigation, and Hugo’s dead.

$5 says they’ll never find the missing $11billion.

Read the full article here.

UPDATE
Peru, on the other hand, wants cash up front: Peru demands cash from Odebrecht ahead of plea deal talks

Peru has demanded a “significant sum” of cash from Brazilian builder Odebrecht before starting talks toward a plea deal that would reveal the names of officials it bribed over a period spanning three presidencies, the attorney general’s office said Monday.

Hamilton Castro, lead prosecutor investigating the company, declined to specify how much Peru was seeking initially, but said Odebrecht would have to pay a bigger sum later in a final agreement after it provides details on crimes it committed in Peru.

Last month Odebrecht, a family-owned conglomerate at the center of Brazil’s biggest ever graft scandal, signed a plea deal in the United States. It acknowledged distributing hundreds of millions in bribes across Latin America, including $29 million in Peru from which it got more than $143 million in benefits.
. . .
Last week the government of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said Odebrecht would be barred from bidding on public contracts thanks to new anti-graft rules and that it might sue the company for damages.

Smart moves.

December 26, 2016 By Fausta

Brazil: Petrobras, Odebrecht’s victim?

Without further comment,

Brazil’s Petrobras Plans to Claim Part of Odebrecht’s Anticorruption Settlement. Construction company still banned from bidding on Petrobras contracts despite record settlement deal

Brazilian oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, plans to request part of the record anticorruption settlement that construction company Odebrecht SA signed earlier this week with Brazilian, U.S. and Swiss authorities.

Petrobras has said it was the victim of the vast bid-rigging and kickbacks scheme that Odebrecht admitted to helping run. Investigators say the graft ring, which included a group of builders, cost Brazilian taxpayers and Petrobras shareholders an estimated $13 billion.

After months of negotiations, Odebrecht agreed Wednesday to pay between $2.6 billion and $4.5 billion to Brazilian, U.S. and Swiss authorities over 23 years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which had brought suit against the firm under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

October 14, 2016 By Fausta

Cuba: Brazil, Odebrecht, & Lula

What do they all have in common?
Capitol Hill Cubans explain:

Brazil’s state development bank (“BNDES”) has frozen loan disbursements for Cuba’s Mariel port and “special economic development zone” (“SEDZ”), as part of a major corruption investigation.

As we all know, the Mariel port and SEDZ project was built pursuant to a shady deal between Cuban dictator Raul Castro and former Brazilian president Lula da Silva.

Pursuant to the deal, Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht would receive nearly $800 million in financing from BNDES, in partnership with a shadow company of the Cuban military called Almacenes Universales, S.A.

This past Monday, Brazilian prosecutors charged Lula da Silva; Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht, who is already serving a 19-year sentence for separate corruption charges; and nine others over allegations that Lula secured BNDES funding for Odebrecht projects in Angola. In return, prosecutors said, Odebrecht bribed Lula and some people close to him.

Have no doubt, Cuba’s Mariel project will be next.

Go to the link for more, as CHP has been following this story for years.

October 11, 2016 By Fausta

Brazil: More corruption charges filed against Lula

The prosecutors are charging Lula, his nephew, and Odebrecht:

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva Faces New Corruption Charges. Prosecutors say he used influence to get loans for construction company Odebrecht in kickback scheme

A judge in Brasília would have to accept the charges for Mr. da Silva to face trial. He is already a defendant in two other federal cases on charges of attempted obstruction of justice, corruption and money laundering in connection with a sprawling embezzlement scheme at the state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras.

Prosecutors on Monday said Mr. da Silva arranged loans from the country’s development bank, known as BNDES, to help Odebrecht SA win public works projects in the African nation of Angola. In return, Odebrecht allegedly paid bribes of more than 30 million reais ($9.3 million), funneled mostly through a firm owned by Mr. da Silva’s nephew, Taiguara Rodrigues dos Santos, according to documents released Monday by prosecutors.

For decades the Left has maintained that Lula, while heading one of the most corrupt countries in the world, was not personally corrupt, yet another lie.

More and more evidence keeps turning up showing that he is.

January 25, 2016 By Fausta

Brazil: Wither the Olympics?

First the Doctors’ union warned that visitors will not get medical attention if they get sick during this year’s games; now the stadium which will host the Opening Ceremony on Aug. 5 is laying off maintenance crews.

Brazil’s iconic Maracanã stadium fired 75% of staff 7 months before Olympics

The slumping Brazilian economy and a wave of corruption scandals has put a wrinkle in preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games. This week Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracanã stadium, which will host the Opening Ceremony on Aug. 5, announced it’s slashing its maintenance staff by 75% in an effort to cut costs.

The troubles facing Maracanã, one of many Brazilian stadiums operating at a loss, are causing nervousness ahead of the Games. The financial crisis is compounding concerns about slow preparations for the Olympics and Rio de Janiero’s water pollution and utility problems. Electricity and water were recently cut off in the Nilton Santos stadium in Rio due to unpaid utility bills. The stadium is scheduled to host track and field competitions during the Olympics.

The whole situation has the feel of an international embarrassment in the making.
. . .
The decision to fire 40 staff workers at Maracaña stadium was made by a private consortium headed by Odebrecht, a huge construction company that has been managing the stadium since 2013 and is now implicated in the corruption scandals plaguing President Dilma Rousseff. Last June, Brazilian authorities arrested the company’s top executive, Marcelo Odebrecht, and accused him of participating in a bribe scheme to win contracts from state-owned oil giant Petrobras.

The consortium announced it would be bringing in its own workers to the stadium and is negotiating a new operating contract with state authorities.

Lula & Dilma sold the World Cup and the Olympics as shinning symbols of Brazil’s incipient entry as a world power.

The World Cup went $3.6 billion over budget.

The Olympics are going down the tubes.

And don’t forget the zika virus.

December 14, 2015 By Fausta

The Argentina inauguration Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Mauricio Macri was inaugurated last Thursday as Argentina’s new president. Having created ‘as many problems as possible for the new government’ and behaving as petulantly as usual, Cristina Fernandez skipped the festivities.

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s new government won’t seek to revive Iran deal on JCC bombing probe

Argentina Abandons Pact With Iran to Investigate ’94 Attack at Jewish Center

If you work for MTV and are planning a helicopter trip, you may want to reconsider.

BOLIVIA
Las Valkyrias de Bolivia – the women wrestlers of La Paz (I posted on the cholitas a few years ago).

BRAZIL
More on Odebrecht, Brazilian Builder OAS’s President Arrested in Bribery Probe. Elmar Varjão among executives alleged to have overcharged government on contracts

Corruption in Brazil. Weird justice. The courts treat suspects too harshly, and convicts too leniently

Brazil Senator Sees 2016 Budget Plan With No Primary Surplus. The Brazilian budget proposal for 2016, which could get its final vote in Congress as early as next week, will probably have a fiscal target lower than Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has called for, a senator involved in the budget discussions said.

CHILE
Ex-soldier held after radio caller admits Chile slayings

Police on Friday arrested former conscript to Guillermo Reyes Rammsy, identifying him as the man who made an emotional 25-minute call to a radio program this week. A judge placed him under house arrest.

COLOMBIA
Colombian prosecutor accuses rebels of 150 forced abortions

Oil Production in Colombia Down 1% in November

COSTA RICA
Minnesota native, St. Thomas grad found stabbed to death in Costa Rica hotel room

CUBA
Cuba Begins to Re-Imprison Political Dissidents ‘Freed’ Under Obama Deal

Miami Herald tries to shame the Castro regime into being nice to the White House
Even the Clinton Administration Made an “Effort” to enforce U.S. Law, Cuba Sanctions

Moody’s Reaffirms Cuba’s Credit Rating but Changes Outlook to Positive. As the church lady put it,