The Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA reported that so far it has paid the Dominican state 60 million dollars as a result of the agreement signed in the country for the bribe it admitted to pay in exchange for public works contracts.
In a press release published in the written press, the construction company stated that it has fulfilled its obligations to the country after signing a leniency agreement that reached the General Prosecutor’s Office in March 2017.
In this agreement, signed by the then attorney general, Jean Alain Rodríguez and Odebrecht, the Brazilian company promised to cooperate with the Justice and to compensate the Dominican state with 184 million dollars.
Regarding the remaining amount of debt, the Brazilian company stated that “the remaining amount ($ 124 million) under the agreement is recognized as a debt pending payment in the process of judicial financial restructuring that the company is carrying out in Brazil.”
Further, in connection with this agreement signed in 2017, recently the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), Wilson Camacho said he was evaluating to cancel the leniency agreement signed with Odebrecht.
Camacho claimed that the decision to cancel the agreement was due to the absence of two directors in the process, who are known to 6 involved in the bribe that the Brazilian construction company admitted to paying in the Dominican Republic, who were presented as witnesses by The Public Ministry, which was the reason for suspending several hearings.
On December 18, the Odebrecht company announced its decision to change its trade name to “Novonor”, a decision with which “we do not erase the past”, according to a statement.
The restructuring process of the business conglomerate led the company to apply in 2019 for the largest bankruptcy in Brazil’s history, with a debt estimated at about 100 billion reais (20 billion reais). dollars).
Full statement from Odebrecht
Odebrecht
RELEASE
National public opinion
As is well known, in March 2017 Odebrecht, SA, concluded an effective collaboration agreement with the Public Ministry of the Dominican Republic, which has the final approval in all courts of the justice system. In essence, the agreement integrates three fundamental pillars: (i) effective collaboration with the Public Prosecutor’s Office for related investigations; (ii) the obligation to repair the state; and (iii) implementing a compliance system. On the other hand, on the part of the state, the fundamental thing is not to object to the rehabilitation of the company and its associates, so that they can resume their activities in the country, fulfilling their economic and social function.
Indeed, as a responsibility assumed by Odebrecht, SA, in front of the facts declared and admitted by its former directors / collaborators, under the Agreement, Odebrecht, SA The General Prosecutor’s Office provided all the evidence, evidence, agreement, information, document, data, report , statement, testimony, award-winning statements and other documents for the verification of the facts admitted by its former directors / collaborators related to the operations of Odebrecht, SA, in the Dominican Republic. What was pronounced is part of the evidentiary basis of the criminal investigation of the Public Ministry, against the defendants in the so-called “Odebrecht case”, which after obtaining the Order to open trial no. 005-2019, of June 21, 2019, pronounced by the Court of Special Instructions of the Supreme Court of Justice, is in the trial phase of the merits, before the Honorable First Collegiate of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the National District. More than sufficient evidence for compliance with the first fundamental pillar of the agreement.
In turn, it is appropriate to reiterate that, as of today, Odebrecht, SA, compensated the state with the payment of USD 60,000,000.00, and the remaining amount, in accordance with the agreement, is recognized as a debt pending payment in the process of judicial financial restructuring that the company is going through in Brazil, in order to be able to meet all the obligations towards our creditors. More than sufficient evidence of compliance with the second fundamental pillar of the agreement.
Regarding our fully implemented compliance system, we emphasize that the independent monitoring, exercised by the monitors of the United States Department of Justice in the operations of Odebrecht, SA and all its subsidiaries in the last 4 years, has been completed successfully and satisfactorily. Independent monitors within the U.S. Department of Justice have certified that the corporate group’s compliance systems are designed and implemented to prevent and detect potential violations of anti-corruption laws. Of all that, with half-yearly reports, was known by the Public Ministry of the Dominican Republic. More than sufficient evidence of compliance with the third pillar of the agreement.
According to the evidence, Odebrecht SA complied in time, content and methodology with its obligations under the agreement with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Dominican Republic, whose compliance behavior it formally and expressly reiterates.
Mauricio Dantas Bezerra, domiciled and resident in Brazil, former legal director of Odebrecht SA, proposed by the Prosecutor’s Office as a witness in the aforementioned criminal proceedings, including because he was the sole legal representative of Odebrecht SA at the time of signing such an agreement effective collaboration. He was in the Dominican Republic and appeared at the hearing set by the First Collegiate Court for December 3, 2020, voluntarily and in order to confirm the statements and commitments undertaken by Odebrecht SA, in the aforementioned Agreement. This hearing was suspended as a lawyer for the accused Víctor Díaz Rúa gave positive results for COVID-19. The product of the pandemic caused by this disease that dramatically affects the world and in a very special way Brazil, for the next hearing was set with the Public Prosecutor of the Dominican Republic who would practically make his deposition before the court, for which he was always available and this could not take place by a sovereign decision of the court, which did not accept the request made by the Public Ministry in this regard. Notwithstanding the above, for the hearing on 21 December 2020, I present a formal apology to the court because, for that day, I had professional and family commitments that could not be delegated, plus the difficulties in obtaining flights due to the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, reiterating on that occasion its desire to testify practically at the headquarters of the Dominican Republic’s embassy in Brazil. This shows the seriousness with which the witness assumes and has assumed the fulfillment of his obligation, which he intends to fulfill rigorously and without saving efforts. In such a way that he is not a reluctant witness, but a citizen available to obey the law in an exemplary manner.
The same happens with Dr. Rodrigo Maluf Cardoso, a Brazilian, resident in Brazil, proposed as a witness by the Public Ministry and present in almost all hearings to testify in this way, called to appear in person at the court mentioned for hearing December 21, 2020, by Law no. 1351/2020, of December 17, 2020, implemented by Minister Ernesto Ortiz Reynoso, was materially impossible, due to the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he is reiterated at the disposal of the Dominican judiciary and in its commitment to comply with its obligation to testify in court.
From what I have said, there is no reason or cause to consider the possibility of the Public Ministry annulling an Agreement which, like the existing one, has produced extremely beneficial results for the implementation of the Dominican Republic’s anti-corruption criminal policy. At Odebrecht, SA there is an unequivocal decision to continue to fulfill its obligations under the agreement. The unjustified absence of these two witnesses at the last hearing should in no way be associated with the abandonment of responsibilities, but rather with cases which, for the time being, were beyond their control. However, we want to specify that they will respect the obligation to give their testimonies in court.
Finally, we remain confident in how the authorities of the Public Prosecutor’s Office should act, in accordance with the constitutional rule that there is a state of social and democratic law in the Dominican Republic, in which legal certainty has acquired rights, the fair trial and the guarantee of the protection of fundamental rights are rules that must be applied to all types of judicial and administrative actions.
Communication management
Odebrecht, SA- In judicial recovery