The Brazilian construction company Odebrecht has told the judicial authorities of the United States that bribes made to the government officials in the Dominican Republic between the years 2001 and 2014 were not documented. The company reportedly used its influence in the Dominican government to ensure that the financing for the projects that it would carry out in the country were included in the National Budget of each year.
The information is part of the file submitted to a New York court where the case was heard. The information was published online for the investigators and lawyers involved in the case to have access to. The court established the company had paid US$92 million in bribes to secure contract work in the Dominican Republic.
The information highlighted that “in order to assure certain contracts for public works in the Dominican Republic, Odebrecht paid bribes to an intermediary responsible for mediating with the government in the understanding that part of the money would be handed over to government officials. It goes on to say that “most of the payments were made using undocumented funds of the Structured Operations Division authorized by Employee 6 of Odebrecht, who was not named.
Listin Diario newspaper reported that more than US$92 million was paid to government officials and intermediaries who were working in the name of the Dominican Republic.
The investigation on irregularities in the operation of Odebrecht in the Dominican Republic are being carried out by the Attorney General. The Attorney General has interviewed several former and current government officials. Odebrecht has agreed to an eight year plan with the Attorney General’s Office to pay US$184 million in compensation to the Dominican state.
So far no one has been named in the case as having received the bribes apart from businessman Angel Rondon who says the US$92 million he received was his payment for services and not for bribes.
Well-reputed judge Alejandro Vargas is due to announce his court’s validation or not of an eight-year agreement with Odebrecht on 1 March 2017.
