10:50 | Curitiba (Brazil), Feb. 20.
Peruvian companies affiliated to Odebrecht were aware of the bribes paid for the South Interoceanic Highway Project, stretches 2 and 3 (South IIRSA), Conirsa Shareholders Board ex-Secretary Sergio Nogueira Panicali confirmed.
Conirsa was comprised of Odebrecht, Graña y Montero, ICCGSA, and JJC Contratistas Generales. Said consortium won the bid for South IIRSA, stretches 2 and 3 in 2005, during
former President Alejandro Toledo's term in office.
According to information gathered by Peruvian La Republica newspaper and Canal N news channel, Nogueira Panicali corroborated the bribe payments former Odebrecht representative in Peru Jorge Barata had already mentioned to Peruvian prosecutors in 2017.
On that occasion, Barata had stated the Inca country's enterprises knew about the bribes which totaled US$20 million.
However, Nogueira Panicali revealed —during the recent interrogation— that the bribe-amount paid for the South Interoceanic Highway Project had reached US$45 million when former Presidents Alejandro Toledo and
Alan Garcia were in office.
"Each one of the enterprises received its own profits, but these were transferred to the Brazilian construction company for bribe payments, according to the information we have gathered and that has been confirmed by other sources," Canal N informed.
Collaboration agreement
As is known, the Brazilian construction giant admitted to having paid millions in bribes to government officials in Peru, in order to secure public-works contracts.
As a result,
Odebrecht benefited from over US$143 million between 2005 and 2014 in Peru, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Published: 2/20/2019