User:Krmaya/sandbox

Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato) is an ongoing criminal investigation being carried out by the Federal Police of Brazil, Curitiba Branch, and judicially commanded by Judge Sérgio Moro since March 17, 2014.

Operation Car Wash refers to the 2014 investigation into Brazilian political corruption. The investigation began as a money laundering investigation and became the biggest corruption scandal in Latin America. The investigation led to the indictment of dozens of high-level politicians, and businessmen. The investigation has since expanded to cover allegations of corruption at the state-controlled oil company Petrobras, where executives allegedly accepted bribes in return for awarding contracts to construction firms at inflated prices. This criminal "system" is known as "Petrolão—Operation Car Wash". The operation has included more than one thousand warrants for search and seizure, temporary and preventive detention and coercive measures, with the aim of ascertaining the extent of a money laundering scheme suspected of moving more than BRL30 billion (c. US$9.5 billion as of July 23, 2017).

Summary
Operation Car Wash began as a money laundering investigation and became the biggest corruption scandal in Latin America. The name was chosen because the alleged ring used a currency exchange and money transfer service at the Posto da Torre (Tower's Gas Station) in Brasília to move illicit payments.

In 2014, federal police found evidence that Paulo Roberto Costa, a former executive at Petrobras, had accepted bribes. Following pressure from investigators, Costa disclosed information detailing the methods by which senior Petrobras officials and politicians had collaborated to receive millions of dollars worth of kickbacks, and had provided prominent Brazilian corporations with favourable access to government contracts. Costa provided investigators with a list of individuals involved in the scheme, and prosecutors used US-style plea bargaining and other controversial methods, such as withholding bail, to coerce individuals to cooperate with the investigation.

The corruption scandal grew in part because it challenged the impunity of politicians and business leaders until then. Structural corruption in the political and economic system, no longer tolerated or accepted, was now being investigated and resulted in some criminal charges. This change was made possible because of the independence of the judiciary.

In total, over 200 people were investigated for corruption, including former politicians Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Of these, there have been 165 convictions. The investigation, headed by Judge Sérgio Moro, has succeeded because of ‘rewarded collaboration’ and the strategy of first targeting businesspeople then using their statements against politicians. Judge Moro is widely supported by the public, though the legality of his methods have at times been questioned. However, 92.5% of his decisions have been maintained.

At least eleven other countries, mostly in Latin America, were involved and the Brazilian company Odebrecht was deeply implicated.

Investigation
The initial accusation came from businessman Hermes Magnus in 2008, who reported an attempt to launder money through his company, Dunel Indústria e Comércio, a manufacturer of electronic components. Ensuing investigations culminated in the identification of four large criminal rings, headed by:
 * Carlos Habib Chater
 * Alberto Youssef
 * Nelma Kodama
 * Raul Henrique Srour.

Investigation at first focused on the four black-market currency dealers and improper payments to Alberto Youssef by companies that won contracts at the Petrobras Abreu & Lima Refinery. After they discovered that "doleiro" (black market dealer) Alberto Youssef had acquired a Range Rover Evoque for Paulo Roberto Costa, a former director of Petrobras, the investigation expanded nationwide. After he was charged, Costa agreed to provide evidence for the investigation. . A newly adopted law introduced 'rewarded collaboration' in Brazil, sentence reductions when the defendant cooperated. Costa's submission illuminated the way political parties controlled the state-owned oil company Petrobras.

It also led to a wave of arrests. Costa agreed to help in 2014, and between then and February 2016 the Federal Prosecution Service formulated 37 criminal charges against 179 people, mostly of politicians and businessmen. In December 2017 nearly three hundred people had been accused of crimes in the scandal. After Marcelo Odebrecht, grandson of the company founder, was sentenced to 19 years in prison, he and other Odebrecht executives were willing to act as witnesses and to give information about the overall corruption scheme, because of the sentence reduction incentives of the ‘Rewarded Collaboration’ Law. Odebrecht had a secret branch used for illegal payments in several Latin American countries, from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela to Ricardo Martinelli in Panama. Marcelo Odebrecht was convicted of paying more than $30 million in bribed to Petrobras in exchange for favourable access to government contracts and increased political and economic influence. Odebrecht was charged with fines totalling $2.6 billion by authorities of Brazil, Switzerland and the United States after they admitted bribing officials in twelve countries for around $788 million.

Costa and Youssef entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors and the scope of the investigation widened to nine major Brazilian construction firms: • Camargo Correa

• Construtora OAS

• UTC Engenharia

• Odebrecht

• Mendes Júnior

• Engevix

• Queiroz Galvão

• IESA Óleo e Gás

• Galvão Engenharia as well as politicians involved with Petrobras. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who chaired the board of Petrobras from 2003 to 2010, denied knowledge of any wrongdoing. The Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the investigation of 48 current and former legislators, including former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in March 2016. Eduardo Cunha, president of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil from 2015 to 2016, was accused of taking approximately US$40 million in bribes and hiding funds in secret bank accounts. He is presently incarcerated.

On January 19, 2017, a small plane carrying Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki crashed into the sea near the tourist city of Paraty in the state of Rio de Janeiro, killing the magistrate and four other people. Zavascki had been handling Operation Car Wash corruption trials.

A Miami Herald report noted in September 2017 that when Operation Car Wash began, fewer than 10,000 electronic monitoring bracelets were in use to enforce home detentions sentences; by September 2017 the number had ballooned to more than 24,000.

Effect on Petrobras
Petrobras delayed reporting its annual financial results for 2014, and in April 2015 released "audited financial statements" showing $2.1 billion in bribes and a total of almost $17 billion in write-downs due to graft and overvalued assets, which the company characterized as a "conservative" estimate. Had the report been delayed by another week, Petrobras bondholders would have had the right to demand early repayment. Petrobras also suspended dividend payments for 2015. Due in part to the impact of the scandal, as well as to its high debt burden and the low price of oil, Petrobras was also forced to cut capital expenditures and announced it would sell $13.7 billion in assets over the following two years.

Investigators have recovered more than $3 billion since 2014, and argue that there are still billions more to be uncovered. However, the Operation Car Wash Task Force was absorbed into a larger anti-corruption subsection of the Federal Police of Brazil in July 2017. Supporters of Operation Car Wash argue that this change was an attempt to weaken the investigation and protect lawmakers and Petrobas officials from further prosecution.

As the executives at Petrobras and Odebrecht were convicted and imprisoned, entire sectors of the Brazilian economy crumbled.This has led to high levels of unemployment for Brazilian workers who were not involved in the corruption schemes. Over 170,000 jobs at Petrobras have been lost since the investigation began. At Odebrecht, an additional 100,000 jobs have been lost.

Domestic politics

 * The treasurer of the Workers' Party, João Vaccari Neto, was arrested for receiving "irregular donations".
 * The former chief of staff for President Lula, José Dirceu, was arrested for orchestrating a large part of the scandal.
 * The President of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of the Congress of Brazil), Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), investigated for receiving more than US$ 40 million in kickbacks and bribes.
 * The former minister of mines and energy, Edison Lobão, was investigated for taking more than USD$50 million from Petrobras.
 * Former president and current Senator Fernando Collor de Mello of the Christian-conservative Christian Labour Party (PTC) was charged with corruption.

On March 8, 2016, Marcelo Odebrecht, CEO of Odebrecht and grandson of the company's founder, was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being convicted of paying more than $30 million in bribes to Petrobras executives.

Political parties

 *  Temer and the PMDB - The plea bargain testimony by Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial's former president Márcio Faria da Silva pointed out that on July 15, 2010, President Michel Temer led a meeting that served to sign an agreement that provided for the payment of approximately US$ 40 million of bribes to the PMDB in exchange for contracts with the International Board of Directors of Petrobras. According to Faria, Temer, who at the time was a candidate for vice-president on Dilma Rousseff's ticket, delegated to Eduardo Cunha and Henrique Eduardo Alves, then deputies and present at the meeting, the task of making the payments, which represented 5% of the contract value. The meeting took place in Temer's political office in São Paulo. He did not discuss any details about the financial agreement, limiting himself to trivial conversations about politics.
 * Aécio and the PSDB - Marcelo Odebrecht said in his plea bargain testimony that the group led by Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG) received at least 50 million reais in exchange for favoring the business contractor in energy deals. He said that improper payments were made due to business deals with two state companies: Furnas and Cemig. The first investigation, federal, was under the leadership of Dimas Toledo, an ally of Neves, in the early years of the Lula administration (2003-2005). The second, state-run state government, was influenced by Aécio during the period when the PSDB ruled Minas Gerais (2003-2014).
 * Lula and the PT - Emílio Odebrecht said in a written report to the Attorney General of Brazil's Office (PGR) that he discussed with PT former President Lula donations for PT campaigns. Financial support, according to the contractor, came even before he became president. Marcelo Odebrecht said that the "Amigo" account, which contained the resources to be used by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was created in 2010 with a balance of R$ 40 million. According to his statement, he gave the money to Antonio Palocci, former Finance Minister and Rousseff chief of staff, who had been the PT contact with Odebrecht since the prior administration, when Emílio Odebrecht and Pedro Novis, had handled payments. He said that in the middle of 2010, at the end of the Lula administration, he knew that Dilma Rousseff was going to take over and that the balance of the account would be "managed by her at her request". Thus, he separated a sum that would be destined exclusively to for ex-president. He said that Lula never asked directly and that everything was done through Palocci, but it became clear that it was really for the former president.

On March 4, 2016, former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was detained and questioned for three hours as part of a fraud inquiry into the dealings of Petrobras, his house raided by federal police agents he was brought in for questioning. Lula, who left office in 2011, denied allegations of corruption. Police said they had evidence that Lula, 70, had received kickbacks. Lula's institute called actions against him "arbitrary, illegal and unjustifiable", since he had been co-operating with the investigations. Lula, convicted of accepting bribes worth 3.7 million reais (1.2 million dollars), was sentenced on July 12 to nine and a half years in prison but remained free pending his appeals.

Political families
Odebrecht created family discussions about the situation of politicians. In eleven cases under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) investigations unite father and son, husband and wife or siblings. The president of the Chamber, Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), has the most family members implicated. He was charged in the same investigation as his father, councilor and former mayor Cesar Maia. According to the Odebrecht testimony, Rodrigo obtained cash resources 2 for his father's campaign and also for himself. The PMDB leader of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (AL), was charged with his son, the governor of Alagoas Renan Filho (PMDB), in two inquiries. They allegedly participated in an agreement to divert resources from the work of the Canal do Sertão and still received resources in the form of box two. In the case of the father, there are still two other inquiries in which the companies are others.

The governor of Rio Grande do Norte, Robinson Faria (PSD), was charged along with his son, federal deputy Fábio Faria (politician) (PSD-RN). The two would have received donations through box two as a counterpart to defend Odebrecht Ambiental's interests in the area of basic sanitation in the state. The president of the PMDB, Senator Romero Jucá (RR), has his son, Rodrigo Jucá, as company in one of the inquiries. The father helped Odebrecht negotiate a Provisional Measure and obtained an electoral donation of 150,000 reais for his son. Romero Jucá was also charged in four other inquiries. A father asking for a contribution for a son was also why former minister José Dirceu was investigated along with Zeca Dirceu, federal deputy. The father was able to raise the money for Zeca in exchange for the acting for of Odebrecht interests in the government.

In the Chamber of Deputies, the sons Antônio Britto (PSD-BA) and Daniel Vilela (PMDB-GO) were also investigated along with their parents, Edvaldo Brito (PTB-BA) and Maguito Vilela (PMDB-GO). Senator Kátia Abreu (PMDB-TO) was accompanied by her husband Moisés Pinto Gomes, who brokered cash payments for her in 2014. Senator Vanessa Grazziotin (PCdoB-AM) is accompanied by her husband Eron Bezerra, who was said to have asked for box 2 cash donations for her. Federal Deputy Décio Nery de Lima (PT-SC) also requested box 2 for the municipal campaign Blumenau in 2012 of his wife and state deputy Ana Paula Lima (PT-SC). The Viana brothers of Acre were not left out. Governor Tião Viana (PT) and Senator Jorge Viana (PT) were also charged together. Jorge asked and Odebrecht paid R$ 1.5 million in cash two for Tião's campaign in 2010.

Payments to Brazilian senators
The names of the senators cited in the report were: • Romero Jucá (PMDB-RR)

• Aécio Neves da Cunha (PSDB-MG)

• Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL)

• Fernando Bezerra Coelho (PSB-PE)

• Paulo Rocha (PT-PA)

• Humberto Costa (PT-PE)

• Edison Lobão (PMDB-PA)

• Cássio Cunha Lima (PSDB-PB)

• Jorge Viana (PT-AC)

• Lidice da Mata (Brazilian Socialist Party) (PSB-BA)

• José Agripino Maia (DEM-RN)

• Marta Suplicy (PMDB-SP)

• Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI)

• Dalírio Beber Social Democrat (PSDB-SC)

• Ivo Cassol Progressistas (PP-RO)

• Lindbergh Farias (PT-RJ)

• Vanessa Grazziotin Communist Party (PCdoB-AM)

• Kátia Abreu (I-TO)

• Fernando Collor de Mello Christian Labour (PTC-AL)

• José Serra (PSDB-SP)

• Eduardo Braga (PMDB-AM)

• Omar Aziz (PSD-AM)

• Valdir Raupp (PMDB-RO)

• Eunício Oliveira (PMDB-CE)

• Eduardo Amorim (PSDB-SE)

• Maria do Carmo Alves (DEM-SE)

• Garibaldi Alves Filho (PMDB-RN)

• Ricardo Ferraço (PSDB-ES)

• Antônio Anastasia (PSDB-MG)

Payments to federal deputies
The names of the federal deputies cited in the Odebrecht statement were: • Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RM)

• Paulinho da Força Solidarity (SD-SP)

• Marco Maia (PT-RS)

• Carlos Zarattini (PT-SP)

• João Carlos Bacelar (PR-BA)

• Milton Monti (PR-SP)

• Daniel Almeida (PCdoB-BA)

• Mário Negromonte Jr (PP-BA)

• Nelson Pellegrino (PT-BA)

• Daniel Vilela (PMDB-GO)

• Jutahy Júnior (PSDB)

• Felipe Maia (politician) (DEM-RN)

• Onyx Lorenzoni (DEM-RS)

• Pedro Paulo Teixeira (PMDB-RJ)

• Cacá Leão (PP-BA)

• Jarbas Vasconcelos (PMDB-PE)

• Celso Russomano (PT-SP)

• Dimas Toledo (PP-MG)

• Alfredo Nascimento Party of Republic (PRAM)

• Antonio Brito (PSD-BA)

• Arlindo Chinaglia (PT-SC)

• Heráclito Fortes (PSB-PI)

• Zeca Dirceu (PT-PR)

• Betinho Gomes Social Democrats (PSDB-PE)

• Zeca do PT (PRB-SP)

• Fábio Faria (politician) (PT-MS)

• José Carneiro (PSB-MA)

• Júlio Lopes (PP-RJ)

• Paulo Lustosa (PP-CE)

• Rodrigo Garcia (politician) (DEM-SP)

• Lúcio Vieira Lima Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB-BA)

• Vander Loubet (PT-MS)

• Vicente Cândido (PT-SP)

• Yeda Crusius (PSDB-RS)

Other Brazilian public figures
The names include politicians and former public officials also mentioned in the statement: • Eduardo Paes (PMDB) - Former mayor of Rio de Janeiro

• César Maia (DEM) - Former governor of Rio de Janeiro

• Rosalba Ciarlini Rosado (PP) - former mayor of Mossoró, governor of Rio Grande do Norte.

• Guido Mantega - Former Finance Minister under Lula and Dilma

• José Dirceu - Former Lula minister

• Napoleão Bernardes - Prefect of Blumenau for the PSDB

• Cândido Vaccarezza - Former deputy (PT)

• Paulo Bernardo - Former Minister of Communication

• Luiz Alberto Maguito Vilela - Former senator and mayor (PMDB)

• Humberto Kasper - Former director of Trensurb, in Rio Grande do Sul

• Marco Arildo Prates da Cunha - Former director of Trensurb

• Ana Paula Lima - Member (SC-PT)

• Rodrigo Jucá - Son of Senator Romero Jucá (PMDB-AL)

• Oswaldo Borges da Costa - Businessman linked to Aécio Neves

• Vital do Rêgo Filho - minister of the Federal Audit Court

• Eron Bezerra (PC do B) - Former state deputy for Amazonas

• Ulisses César Martins de Sousa - Lawyer and former attorney general of the State of the Sao Paulo

• Valdemar Costa Neto (PR) - Former federal deputy for São Paulo

• Edvaldo Pereira de Brito - Former mayor of Salvador, linked to Deputy Antonio de Brito

• José Ivaldo Gomes

• Vado da Farmárcia - Former Mayor of Cabo de Santo Agostinho PE

• João Carlos Gonçalves Ribeiro - Former secretary of planning for the state of Rondônia

• José Feliciano de Barros Júnior.

Dilma Rousseff's 2014 presidential campaign
Marcelo Odebrecht detailed the payment of 100 million reais for the 2014 presidential campaign of Dilma, requested by then-minister Guido Mantega. The payment was allegedly tied to the approval of Provisional Measure 613, which assisted Braskem, an arm of Odebrecht, and dealt with the Special Chemical Industry Regime (Reiq), with fiscal incentives for ethanol and the chemical industry. The former executive said that this was not a direct exchange of favors as was, he says, the negotiation of the 50 million reais passed on to the government for the creation of Crisis Refis to solve the crisis caused by zero Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados (Industrialized Products Tax) (IPI), but that the then-minister knew that he was talking to someone who had given money to João Santana. The former executive said he often met Mantega and they both brought their lawsuits to meetings. According to him, the former minister had already asked the executive to "resolve issues" pending with publicist João Santana and the then-treasurer of the PT, João Vaccari. The advertiser always feared political campaigns because of the risk of getting into debt at the end. That's why he made advance payment on the account, to make it quiet.

Former Odebrecht Institutional Relations Director Alexandrino Alencar stated that former minister Edinho Silva, when he became treasurer of Dilma Rousseff's campaign in 2014, asked for cash 2 donations from five parties to support the Force of the People plate, valued at 7 million reais each. The PCdoB, PDT, PRB, PROS and PP received the illegal donations, according to the former director of Odebrecht. Together, these parties gave three minutes and twenty seconds of television time to the presidential ticket. In return, said the former director, the contractor hoped to obtain quid pro quos from the elected government. The informant detailed meetings with the politicians in his office and cash deliveries, always made in kind by messengers in hotels or flats. Marcelo Odebrecht said he met with Silva a few times to handle the money for the parties that would join the coalition in 2014. The former Dilma minister allegedly instructed Alencar to directly seek party leaders to pass on the values. He clarified that the interest of the PT was the increase of the time of electoral time in the television, being in a total of eleven minutes and twenty-four seconds, being a third of that time coming from the parties purchased.

Domestic Sentiments
Corruption in Brazil exists on all levels. Operation Car Wash was the first investigation that resulted in the prosecution and convictions of high-ranking public officials. There is significant support for Operation Car Wash and more broad anti-corruption measures throughout the country, as seen in the 2013 protests in Brazil that highlighted corruption as a primary grievance. In 2015, Brazilians again protested corruption and called for Rousseff's impeachment. During these protests, many wore articles of clothing adorned with Judge Moro's name or face, including banners, masks, and inflatable dolls.

Moro has changed the way corruption cases are tried in Brazil. Not only has the process been sped up, but he has also used pretrial detention and plea-bargaining to increase cooperation with the prosecution. Federal police keep suspects in prolonged temporary custody citing fears that suspects will flee the country or tamper with evidence and witnesses. The Supreme Court of Brazil has repeatedly rejected habeas corpus pleas.

Despite Moro's success and broad popularity, his methods have been criticized. Prominent Brazilian scholars have argued that jailing those under investigation without bail or trial induces false confessions. For example, in February 2015, a CEO and deputy CEO of a major Brazilian construction company signed individual collaboration agreements after 105 days in police custody following the rejection of a habeas corpus request. Although prosecutors deny coercion, defence officials argue that the pretrial detention constitutes psychological torture, and results in collaborators lying.

Operation Car Wash has changed public attitudes toward corruption in Brazil. Bruno Brandao, the head of Transparency International said, ""Car Wash in Brazil today is no longer just an investigation, nor a process. Lava Jato today in Brazil is an attitude, an expectation that impunity will start to fade away." However, the investigation is far from over, and still faces challenges.

Attorney general Rodrigo Janot, who left office in September 2017, faced significant political opponents to the investigation. His successor, Raquel Dodge will face similar pressures, and has inherited controversial cases, including that of President Michel Temer and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Lula was convicted of a 12-year sentence for corruption, and appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn it and run for re-election. However, the appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court in March 2018, and he turned himself in on April 8, 2018. Despite the allegations, Lula remains very popular throughout Brazil, and his arrest may undermine public support for Operation Car Wash.

The federal police budget was reduced by 44% and the number of agents working on Operation Car Wash was cut, indicating political will to hamper the investigations. Political leaders in all mainstream parties have criticized the investigation as having "gone too far."

Repercussions outside Brazil
Evidence from Operation Car Wash and specifically m the Odebrecht case has implicated politicians and officials in 10 Latin American countries. In February 2017, prosecutors from these 10 countries created a task force to facilitate the sharing of information relating to the bribes paid by Odebrecht. The agreement was signed by top prosecutors from Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama and Portugal.

Paradise Papers
On 5 November 2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that Odebrecht used at least one offshore company as a vehicle for the payment of bribes discovered in the Operation Car Wash investigation. Marcelo Odebrecht, his father Emílio Odebrecht and his brother Maurício Odebrecht are all mentioned in the Paradise Papers.

Argentina
Argentina’s government has sought Brazil's help in uncovering the Argentines who have been named in Operation Car Wash.

Federal judges appealed to Brazil and Switzerland regarding Gustavo Arribas, director of Argentina's Federal Intelligence Agency under the government of Mauricio Macri, to determine whether he received a $600,000 bribe from Odebrecht in 2013. He has since been charged with corruption and remains under investigation.

Ecuador
In Ecuador, vice-president Jorge Glas was convicted in December 2017 for taking $13.5 million in bribes from Odebrecht. He was sentenced to six years in jail.

Mexico
In Mexico, Odebrecht has admitted to U.S. and Brazilian prosecutors that it paid $10.5 million in bribes in Mexico. The former director of the state-owned oil company Pemex, a close ally of President Peña Nieto, is suspected of receiving US$10 million in bribes.

In December, the Mexican government banned Odebrecht from bidding on public contracts for four years. In April 2018, the Mexican government banned federal and state governments from doing business with Odebrecht, and fined the company $60 million. The more recent ban is expected to last for 2-2.5 years.

Panama
Panama's investigators uncovered a Panamanian company tied to Odebrecht called Contructora Internacional del Sur. It was a fake company was received money from Odebrecht and then dispersed it to accounts throughout the region, and to the world more broadly. Many of the shell companies used by Odebrecht were set up by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak. Panama has charged 17 people for involvement in the scandal, including government officials. The country also charged Odebrecht $59 million in compensation. Ramón Fonseca Mora, president of Panama's Panameñista Party, was dismissed in March 2016 due to his involvement in the scandal.

Representatives from Mossack Fonseca, accused President Juan Carlos Varela of accepting campaign donations from Odebrecht. Varela has admitted that he received money from Odebrecht through his during his vice-presidency campaign in 2009. He maintains that "political donations are not a crime, bribes are a crime." He also stated that he did not receive any direct donations from Odebrecht during the Panamanian general election, 2014 in which he ran for president.

In July 2017, Odebrecht agreed to pay $220 million in fines and release information about company corruption in the country to help its investigations.

Peru
During the Peruvian presidential election in February 2016, a report by the Brazilian Federal Police implicated Peruvian president Ollanta Humala in bribery by Odebrecht for public works contracts. President Humala denied the charge and has avoided questions from the media on that matter. In July 2017, Humala and his wife were arrested and held in pre-trial detention following investigations into his involvement in the Odebrecht scandal. Investigations revealed that Brazilian president Lula da Silva pressured Odebrecht to pay millions of dollars toward Humala's presidential campaign.

In December 2017 Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski appeared before Congress to defend himself against impeachment over allegations of covering up illegal payments of $782,000 from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to Kuczynski's company Westfield Group Capital Ltd. Keiko Fujimori, who lost the 2016 presidential elections by a margin of fewer than 50,000 votes, is championing the motion; her party has already forced out five government ministers. Fujimori is herself implicated in the Odebrecht scandal over alleged campaign contributions.However, Fujimori denies all allegations and charges have not been filed. Kuczynski resigned the Presidency on 21 March 2018.

Also in Peru, former President Alejandro Toledo is accused of taking $20 million in bribes, but he has not yet been located and arrested. The Peruvian government has offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to Toledo's arrest.

Venezuela
In late 2017, Euzenando Prazeres de Azevedo, president of Constructora Odebrecht in Venezuela, told investigators that Odebrecht had made $35 million in campaign contributions to Nicolas Maduro's 2013 presidential campaign in return for Odebrecht projects receiving priority in Venezuela, that Americo Mata, Maduro's campaign manager, initially asked for $50 million for Maduro, settled in the end for $35 million.

Luisa Ortega Díaz, chief prosecutor, was fired after making these allegations against Maduro. She also claimed that Odebrecht paid $100 million to the vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello. Ortega has since fled the country and claims that Maduro's government is blocking the investigation. Odebrecht denied the allegations. The Venezuelan government has since blocked the company's bank accounts and put a hold on on-going Odebrecht projects.

Dramatizations
There are two dramatizations of Operation Car Wash. One is the movie film Polícia Federal: A Lei É para Todos (Federal Police: The Law Is for Everyone) Directed by Marcelo Antunez (2017),and the other is the Netflix series The Mechanism