Inter-American Development Bank debars Odebrecht units for massive bribery
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
announced Wednesday the six-year debarment of more than 20 subsidiaries of Odebrecht S.A. for bribing public officials in connection with two IDB-financed projects.
The IDB
said the debarred Odebrecht units are CNO S.A. and Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção S.A., as well as 19 CNO subsidiaries.
CNO branches in Africa weren’t debarred.
Between 2007 and 2015, Odebrecht companies paid $118 million in bribes on two IDB-funded projects, “utilizing a complex network of agents and offshore financial payment schemes.”
The projects
were the Highway Rehabilitation Program in São Paulo, Brazil and the Tocoma Hydroelectric Power Plant Program in Venezuela.
The bribes
amounted to about six percent of the value of Odebrecht’s contracts under the projects.
In reaching the negotiated settlement, Brazil-based Odebrecht didn’t contest the IDB’s evidence.
The company
also agreed to make a total contribution of $50 million directly to NGOs and charities managing social projects in “the IDB’s developing member countries.”
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