Brazilian development large Odebrecht, which not too long ago modified its title to Novonor, should pay a $50 million fantastic over corruption associated to development of a freeway in Colombia, authorities introduced on Monday.
The corporate was fined “for implementing a system proscribing free competitors” associated to a 520-kilometer (325-mile) part of the Ruta del Sol freeway from the middle to the north of the nation, Colombia’s trade and commerce regulatory company mentioned.
Odebrecht and its native companions Corficolombiana and Episol “diverted assets from the execution of the contract” to pay a $6.5 million bribe to Gabriel Garcia, a authorities official who helped them win the contract, the company mentioned.
The transfer was a part of a “corruption scheme deployed by Odebrecht on a world scale, that lasted greater than a decade and resulted within the fee of a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in bribes in numerous international locations,” it added.
The investigation was based mostly on a plea deal the corporate reached with the US Division of Justice in 2016, and testimony from Garcia, who’s serving 5 years beneath home arrest.
Odebrecht executives Luiz Bueno, Luiz Mameri and Yesid Arocha should pay fines totaling $900,000 for “having collaborated” within the Colombian freeway corruption scheme.
Odebrecht was on the heart of the Operation Automobile Wash corruption scandal that resulted in dozens of prime businessmen and politicians in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America being despatched to jail.
From its launch in 2014, the investigation into Operation Automobile Wash uncovered an unlimited community of bribes paid by giant development firms to politicians in a number of international locations to acquire main public works contracts.
The case sparked political crises in a number of international locations. In Peru, three former presidents are beneath investigation whereas a fourth, Alan Garcia, dedicated suicide in 2019 when police arrived at his dwelling to take him into custody.
Odebrecht was ordered to pay a number of fines together with one price $2.6 billion to the governments of the US, Brazil and Switzerland.
Earlier this month Odebrecht modified its title to Novonor to attempt to distance itself from the corruption scandals.
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