Brazilian police arrested Marcelo Odebrecht, the head of Latin America’s largest engineering and construction company Odebrecht SA yesterday, and accused his family-run conglomerate of spearheading a $2.1 billion (€2.4 billion) bribery scheme at state-run oil firm Petrobras.
In pre-dawn raids that netted 12 arrests in four states, police also apprehended Otavio Marques Azevedo, head of Andrade Gutierrez, the second-largest Brazilian construction firm.
A lead prosecutor, Carlos Fernando dos Santos Limas, said he had “no doubt” Mr Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez led what he called a “cartel” that overcharged Petrobras for work and passed on the excess funds to executives and politicians.
The arrest of Mr Odebrecht, who has personal ties to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, could bring the scandal closer to the political heart of the ruling Worker’s Party, already weakened by Brazil’s largest ever corruption investigation known as “Operation Car Wash”.
Big risk
“There is a larger connection between Lula and Odebrecht and we see (Odebrecht’s) possible indictment as a big risk,” said Cameron Combs, Latin American researcher with Eurasia Group.
President Dilma Rousseff, who was chairwoman of the Petrobras board during Mr Lula’s presidency, has denied knowledge of the corruption scandal dating back to at least 2004 and urged a thorough investigation. Neither she nor Mr Lula have been implicated.
Mr Odebrecht is the third generation leader of the privately held company.
– (Reuters)