Lava Jato scandal: Odebrecht e-mails show $20 million in bribes involving key Macri rail project
The São Paulo-based news daily Estadão reported that the Brazilian bribery investigation known as Lava Jato (Car Wash) identified five e-mails in which $20 million in bribes were agreed upon between Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant at the heart of the scandal, and IECSA - the construction firm controlled by the family of Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
The e-mails, dating from 2010, were between Mauricio Couri Ribeiro, an Odebrecht executive in Argentina, and a IECSA representative, Javier Sánchez Caballero. Lourenço Ghella, of the Italian construction firm Ghella, is also mentioned.
Their exchanges detail a scheme to funnel some $20 million in bribes, in three tranches, to secure a lucrative rail tunnel contract in Argentina. Couri Ribeiro confirmed to Brazilian Federal Police that the terminology used in the e-mails - "DGI-Direct Contact" - referred specifically to bribes.
The controversial $3 billion project to convert the Sarmiento commuter rail line, which connects Buenos Aires to its western suburbs, into an underground line, was awarded in June to the IECSA-Odebrecht-Ghella consortium, and is the centerpiece of Macri's $7 billion federal public works program.
IECSA, Argentina's third largest public contractor, was founded and is owned by the Argentine president's father, Francesco Macri, and has since 2007 been led by the president's first cousin Ángelo Calcaterra.
Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht was sentenced in March to a 19-year prison term for paying nearly $800 million in bribes in 12 countries since 2001 to secure contracts.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicargentina.com%2Fnotas%2F201702%2F19632-correos-de-odebrecht-involucran-al-primo-de-macri-en-la-corrupcion-de-la-empresa-brasilena.html&edit-text=
= new reply since forum marked as read
