Jorge Barata, former Executive-Director of Odebrecht in Peru, on Thursday confirmed that the Brazilian construction company had made contributions to different political campaigns in Peru, with amounts ranging between US$200,000 and US$3 million.
Said statement was made before the Fourth National Collegiate Criminal Court at the hearing of the oral trial against former Deputy Minister Jorge Luis Cuba Hidalgo and other defendants accused of the crime of money laundering —within the framework of the Metro de Lima (Lima Metro Line) case.
Barata participated virtually in the hearing from Brazil, joined by his lawyer.
As is known, the Lava Jato team investigates the alleged bribes paid by the Brazilian company to former government officials and other politicians in exchange for awarding of projects.
When questioned by
Prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez —a Lava Jato Case Special Prosecution Group member— the former executive indicated that, during the period in which he worked as an Odebrecht high-ranking officer in Peru,
the company made contributions to the presidential campaigns of Ollanta Humala, Keiko Fujimori, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, and Alan García, as well as to the campaign for the non-recall of then-Lima Mayoress Susana Villaran.
When asked about the specific amounts for each campaign, he recalled that the contributions or "payments" were as follows: US$3 million for the Humala and Villaran campaigns, plus US$1 million in the case of Fujimori.
Regarding Alan Garcia —during whose second presidency (2006-2011) the Lima Metro project was executed— Barata mentioned that Odebrecht had contributed to two different campaigns of the former president.
The ex-executive affirmed that the first time $200,000 was paid, although he apologized for not being able to recall exact details, because many years have passed.
"We contributed to the campaign of Mr. (Alan) Garcia on two occasions. One on which he did not win and the second on which he did win (the election for President of the Republic)," Barata indicated.
Other details of the contributions
During the hearing, the former Odebrecht executive in Peru specified that the "payments," after being awarded a project, were normally made to public officials and people who worked for the Peruvian State, also to politicians and campaigns of candidates running for President of the Republic, Congress members, or mayors.
He indicated that said payments were made via the Structured Operations Division, with cash or via transfers through offshore companies.
Barata explained that cash payments were made via 'doleiros,' people who used to carry the money in cash into Peru without leaving any registry. The 'doleiros' would receive cash to deliver it to someone who had provided Odebrecht with an irregular service.
"Once the amounts were higher, it became complicated to use cash, so transfers were made between accounts linked to trusted third parties," Prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez indicated.
Barata affirmed that whenever he had to make any of those irregular payments, he had to request authorization from his superior, Luiz Antonio Mameri, who was Odebrecht's Vice-President for Latin America at that time.
Once he used to receive approval, the disbursement was coordinated.
Barata also specified that they communicated using encrypted e-mails through the My Web Day or Drousys systems in order not to be tracked.