Odebrecht's trail of destruction
The builder's region-wide corruption scheme has endangered energy projects across Latin America, none more important that Peru's Southern Gas Pipeline
The fallout from Brazil's Lava Jato (Carwash) corruption scandal is spilling out across Latin America. The Brazilian builder Odebrecht, whose fall from national corporate champion to national disgrace has been swift and spectacular, admitted in December as part of a $3.5bn plea deal with the US government to systematically bribing officials to win business across 12 countries, mostly in Latin America. The US alleges that the company, along with Brazil's Braskem, paid $0.788bn in bribes to win more than 100 contracts, mostly for public works and infrastructure. It was the biggest settlement ever under the US' Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Odebrecht, according to the suit, essentially exporte
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