Deal with nine countries signed to probe into Odebrecht in Brazil

Brazil's Prosecution Service (MPF) signed with eight Latin American countries and Portugal the biggest international agreement linked to Operation Car Wash. The deal aims to investigate into embezzlement crimes committed by construction company Odebrecht.

The document, signed Thursday (Feb. 16) in Brasília, at Brazil's Prosecutor-General's Office, notes that the leniency deal signed by Odebrecht the federal prosecutors and the plea bargains of 78 former executives and workers from the company are covered by a confidentiality term in force up to July 1, 2017.

The agreement was forged as a result of this secrecy as well as the interest of legal authorities and law enforcement agencies in the countries involved to have access to the information before the end of the term.

The document stipulates the formation of bilateral and multilateral investigation teams to probe into Odebrecht. In addition to Brazil's Rodrigo Janot, the prosecutors-general of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Portugal joined the agreement.

In at least four Latin American nations—Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru—the probes targeting Odebrecht have led to the arrest of suspects, for instance. Among the imprisonment orders is that of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, charged with pocketing some $20 million in kickbacks in connection with the construction of a highway.

In December, in a leniency deal signed jointly by Brazil, the US, and Switzerland, Odebrecht admitted to paying more than $1 billion in bribes to authorities and government officials from at least 12 countries.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira