Odebrecht’s bribery division ran deeper than we thought
In December 2016, when Odebrecht admitted to running a transnational corruption scheme, it sent shockwaves through Latin America. Governments fell, high-profile politicians went to jail, and thousands of projects were shut down. Odebrecht admitted to paying USD 788m in bribes between 2001 and 2016—which resulted in USD 3.3bn in unlawful benefits—in a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Turns out Odebrecht wasn’t telling the whole truth.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has launched a new collaborative investigation, involving 17 newsrooms across Latin America and based on findings by Ecuadorian website La Posta—which had access to secret communications between executives. The findings show Odebrecht’s bribery network ran deeper than the company revealed, including:
- Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant. Over USD 39m in secret payments went through the gigantic Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant in the Dominican Republic. Two investigations missed that.
- Peruvian pipelines. The company paid USD 3m in kickbacks related to a pipeline in Peru—and included a politician who was reportedly planning to assassinate an adversary.
- Quito subway. Secret emails discuss bribes to elected...