The large contractors investigated by the Lava Jato discovered corruption schemes within their own structures of corruption.

No honor among…..

The large contractors investigated by the Lava Jato discovered corruption schemes within their own structures of corruption. That is to say: a kind of deviation of the deviation. Large contractors, among them Odebrecht, began to identify cases where officials responsible for paying the kickback ended up pocketing some of the money, diverted to overseas accounts for personal benefits. This situation has surfaced in internal investigations and in the dozens of plea bargaining cases from company executive

Valor newspaper found that one of the executives suspected of bribing money had money found in an account in Geneva, Switzerland.  The account information only came to light from information found in the SwissLeaks, made by a former HSBC technician. Another suspicion falls on one of the top executives of a major construction company that negotiated a plea bargain with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

In Odebrecht’s case, not even the “structured transactions division” of systematized bribe payment, with its clandestine accounting mechanisms, was able to prevent the proliferation of skimming against the company by its executives. The culture of practicing irregularities in the relationship with the public sector demonstrated a perverse symptom: it spread also internally, as in a land without law. While some of the allegations have surfaced, data on offenses committed in the company are carefully kept secret.

Evidence of diversion of funds for personal advantage of executives has sparked debate among defense lawyers. Some argue that companies could go to court with redress to collect the amount diverted by employees.