Odebrecht reveals bribery scheme for Navy nuclear submarine project.
In its plea bargain agreement, Odebrecht will detail the behind-the-scenes payments made through its bribery department related to the Brazilian Navy's Submarine Development Program (Prosub); in negotiations with the Attorney General's Office, at least two payments made abroad through offshore companies were mentioned, payments that could not appear in the contractor's official accounting.
247 - In its plea bargain agreement, Odebrecht will detail the behind-the-scenes payments made through the Structured Operations Sector, the infamous bribery department, related to the Brazilian Navy's Submarine Development Program (Prosub). In negotiations with the Attorney General's Office, at least two payments made abroad through offshore companies were mentioned, payments that could not appear in the contractor's official accounting. The nuclear submarine project, initially budgeted at 6,7 billion euros (approximately R$ 23 billion, according to the current exchange rate), only came to fruition after a partnership with France. The program was awarded to a consortium formed by the French shipbuilder DCNS, whose main shareholder is the French government, and Odebrecht, chosen by the French without a bidding process.
A information It's from the State of São Paulo.
"The two payments not officially accounted for by Odebrecht were made to businessman José Amaro Pinto Ramos and to the former president of Eletronuclear, Admiral Othon Pinheiro da Silva. According to one of the informants, Amaro Ramos represented the interests of the French company DCNS. This information is part of the negotiations for the plea bargain of executive Luiz Eduardo Soares, an employee of the Structured Operations Sector, with the Lava Jato investigators. The newspaper Estado de S. Paulo found that executives Benedicto Júnior, former president of Odebrecht Infraestrutura, and Fabio Gandolfo, Odebrecht's representative in the Navy for the Prosub project and at Eletronuclear, also participated in the operations involving the submarine project."
In the case of the payments to the admiral, the transaction was carried out through an offshore company indicated by the operator Paulo Sérgio Vaz de Arruda. Othon Pinheiro was arrested in two phases of Lava Jato: Radiotividade and Pripyat, accused of corruption in the construction of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant.
Soares, nicknamed "Luizinho" at Odebrecht, told investigators that he acted to facilitate the company's payment of 4,5 million euros to the admiral. The payment was made to the account of the offshore company Iberoamerica Projectos Empreendimentos Y Consultoria SA, indicated to the executive by Vaz de Arruda. Currently, Vaz de Arruda is an advisor at Bombril S/A and linked to Bonsucex Holding. He was allegedly introduced to Odebrecht employees by Admiral Othon Pinheiro.
PEP. Both the operator and the offshore company Iberoamerica Projectos already appeared in the testimony of Vinicius Borin, one of those responsible for Odebrecht's accounts at Meinl Bank, based in the tax haven of Antigua. In his testimony, Borin stated that he was unable to make some payments to Vaz de Arruda's offshore company, since he was a representative of a PEP – an acronym for politically exposed person.