DOJ helps shut down international ‘Department of Bribery’

Federal Times: Odebrecht S.A., a global construction conglomerate based in Brazil, and Braskem S.A., a Brazilian petrochemical company, have pleaded guilty to using the global financial system — including the United States banking system — to disguise and disburse bribes around the world.

Odebrecht and Braskem have agreed to pay at least $2.6 billion and up to $4.5 billion in global penalties after being found to have “a hidden but fully functioning Odebrecht business unit — a ‘Department of Bribery,’ so to speak — that systematically paid hundreds of millions of dollars to corrupt government officials in countries on three continents,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sung-Hee Suh of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

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