The Odebrecht–Car Wash leniency agreement, also known in Brazil as the "end of the world plea deal" (), was the leniency agreement signed between Odebrecht S.A. and the

Public Prosecutor's Office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft. This kind of office als ...

(PGR) in December 2016, as part of

Operation Car Wash Operation Car Wash ( pt, Operação Lava Jato) was a criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil's Curitiba branch. It began in March 2014 and was initially headed by investigative judge in France, but unlike judges in the common law ...

. The agreement provided for the deposition of 78 of the contractor's executives, including the former president

Marcelo Odebrecht Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht (; born 18 October 1968) is a Brazilian businessman and the former CEO of Odebrecht, a diversified Brazilian conglomerate. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for paying more than $30 million in bribes. ...

, and his father, , which generated 83 investigations at the Supreme Federal Court (STF). In March 2017, Attorney General

Rodrigo Janot Rodrigo Janot Monteiro de Barros (born September 15, 1956, Belo Horizonte) is a Brazilian jurist who served as the Prosecutor General of the Republic The Prosecutor General of the Republic ( pt, Procurador-Geral da República) is the head of ...

asked the Supreme Tribunal to withdraw the secrecy of the depositions. The following month, on 11 April, STF Minister Edson Fachin accepted the request of the A-G and withdrew the secrecy of investigations. On 12 April, federal judge

Sérgio Moro Sergio Fernando Moro (; born 1 August 1972) is a Brazilian jurist, former federal judge, college professor and politician. He was elected to be a member of the Federal Senate for Paraná in October 2022. In 2015 he gained national attention ...

followed the same line as the Supreme Tribunal and withdrew the secrecy of denunciations involving people without ' status from the jurisdiction of judges of

first instance A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually made by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Mos ...

. Moro said in his order, "The judiciary should not be the guardian of shadowy secrets. Moreover, publicity prevents unlawful, regrettable leaks, which are difficult to control". According to the lead prosecutor of Operation Car Wash, Deltan Dallagnol, the leniency agreement provided the "greatest refund in world history". Odebrecht and

Braskem Braskem is a Brazilian petrochemical company headquartered in São Paulo. The company is the largest petrochemical company in Latin America and has become a major player in the international petrochemical market (8th largest resin producer worldw ...

pleaded guilty and would pay fines of 3.5 billion dollars, the equivalent of 12 billion reals, 80 per cent of which would go to Brazil. In 2018, the STF took from Lava Jato the so-called End of the World denunciation in which 415 politicians from 26 parties were mentioned, but merely one was convicted. It generated 270 investigations, but only five of them became criminal proceedings. The resulted in several , especially in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

References

;Notes ;Citations

External links

Constituição Da República Federativa Do Brasil De 1988

Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil
pdf; 432 pages
Official Senate legislation search engine for Brazilian law

Government of Brazil 2016 in Brazil Political corruption Political scandals in Brazil Odebrecht {{Crime-stub

See also

References

External links