![]() ![]() World Cup stadiums: The scandal that seemingly rankled Brazilians the most is the billions of dollars spent on lavish stadiums in far-flung cities like Cuiaba, with no major sports team to fill the arena once the soccer World Cup was over. More from GlobalPost: Two crazy statistics show Rio’s gross water problem isn't going away Bribes totaling $3 billion were allegedly paid. Prosecutors claim the extra money was skimmed off and shared among company executives, or funneled to political parties in contributions. The Petrobras or “Car Wash” scandal: A group of companies allegedly partook in a huge kickback scheme, collaborating with officials to rig the bids for major projects like oil refineries, then charging the government far more than the projects cost. Some have already gone to jail, others are awaiting trial, and others are cooperating with investigators.Ī worker impersonating Brazil's former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, gestures during a demonstration against the suspension of a Petrobras refinery project in front of the Brazilian state oil giant's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. The six companies GlobalPost looked at are Odebrecht, OAS, Camargo Correa, Andrade Gutierrez, Queiroz Galvao and Mendes Junior.Įxecutives at all these firms have been charged in connection to the Petrobras scandal. “These companies have been mired in scandal and kickbacks for decades.” “There’s a sense of impunity in the Brazilian business class,” Roett said. That infrastructure projects ended up vastly over-budget or delayed, or became alleged vessels to funnel money to corrupt company executives and politicos, came as no surprise to Riordan Roett, director of the Latin American Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University. The coziness between businesses and politicians helped drive the Supreme Court this year to bar political contributions from corporations. It’s hard to overstate just how big these companies are, or how intertwined they are with the country's political establishment.įive of the companies combined donated more than 287 million Brazilian reais (then worth around $121 million) to political campaigns in 2014, according to Estadao Dados, a blog that tracks political spending in Brazil. More from GlobalPost: Dirty-money Benz and yachts are up for auction in Brazil, and proceeds go to the state oil empire A sixth was involved in three of the four scandals. The same companies that built white elephant stadiums in the jungle are responsible for allegedly bilking Petrobras, failing to clean Rio’s water, and building the controversial Belo Monte Dam deep in the Amazon jungle.įive of the firms worked on projects connected to all four of Brazil’s recent colossal scandals, according to a GlobalPost analysis. Through all the corruption allegations, a strong pattern has emerged: Six of Brazil’s largest engineering conglomerates have popped up again and again as the scandals unfold. And Rio de Janeiro waterways - some, venues of the 2016 Summer Olympics - are fouled with near-lethal levels of waste despite billion-dollar spending on cleanup projects. Glitzy World Cup soccer stadiums built in far-flung cities, where few spectators will visit again, are being investigated for fraud.Ī controversial hydroelectric dam project faces major bribery accusations and is expected to go way over budget. Top politicians and executives keep getting arrested, accused of running an epic kickback scheme through Petrobras oil company. RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - At times this country seems like it's suffering one continuous eruption of corruption scandals.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |