A batch of official documents relating to Odebrecht’s contracts in Venezuela has been leaked to this site. It’s quite a task to recall similar corruption schemes in any part of the world. In summary, Brazilian presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, along with the upper echelons of the Workers’ Party in power, acted as pawns in a gigantic corruption scheme orchestrated by Odebrecht. Lula and Dilma were essentially the glorified sales representatives of Odebrecht. However, while Odebrecht was the mastermind in Brazil, the most enthusiastic criminal partners were found across the border in Venezuela. Hugo Chávez first, and then the anointed heir Nicolás Maduro, continued awarding massive no-bid infrastructure contracts to Odebrecht over the years. Official documents—signed by Maduro—show that, just in transportation projects (railways, metro, terminals, etc.), Odebrecht received more than $15 billion from Venezuela since 2011.
The source of these documents couldn’t be better: Euzenando Azevedo, Odebrecht’s man in Venezuela. Azevedo provided a trove of evidence to the prosecutors behind the Lava Jato investigation, which is considered by many to be the largest corruption scandal in Brazil.
Azevedo discussed meetings with Américo Mata (Maduro’s henchman), and how Max Arvelaiz, former ambassador of Venezuela to Brazil and friend of Oliver Stone and “film producer,” coordinated Odebrecht’s bribes and funneled $35 million to Nicolás Maduro through political campaign strategists Joao Santana, his wife Mónica Moura, and the founder of the Workers’ Party (and one of Lula’s most trusted lieutenants) José Dirceu. In exchange for the bribe, Maduro approved billions in payments to Odebrecht.
Odebrecht is a supplier of bribes that offers equal opportunity: the “opposition” leader, Henrique Capriles Radonski, also received $15 million in 2013.
Azevedo further noted that Odebrecht’s annual billing to Venezuela reached about $2.5 billion (up to 2013).
The documents are official financing requests submitted to Nicolás Maduro from various chavista officials: Elías Jaua, General Juan de Jesús García Toussaintt, Haiman El Troudi, Rafael Ramírez, and General Rodolfo Marco Torres.
The explanations included show that financing requests are ongoing, meaning that every year new funds are requested to “continue” with the described projects, none of which are close to completion. While totals for each project are given, there is no accounting of disbursements to date. Maduro not only approves funds but also provides instructions—under “Comments from President Nicolás Maduro”—on the sources to be tapped for financing: Chinese Fund, Miranda Fund, FONDEN, PDVSA / BRASKEM, BNDES, Deutsche Bank, and BNP Paribas. Thus, the Chinese, Russians (FONDEN), Brazilians, international banks, and chavismo were all fueling Odebrecht’s corruption.
Some sources are used for local currency requirement (BsF), while others are utilized for needs in euros or dollars. Almost all projects have a combination of currency needs. Maduro’s freedom to manage Venezuela’s public money as he sees fit is evident at all times.
Another shocking aspect relates to accountability. As can be seen on the left, Maduro can decide whether his decisions on spending billions of dollars will be communicated to the nation or kept secret.
Under “Proposed Communication Treatment” or Communication Strategy, there are a series of options:
– announce publicly,
– delay the public announcement,
– not disclose (“no disclose”),
– and tweet about it.
As previously described, this set of documents only relates to transportation projects awarded to Odebrecht in Venezuela, namely:
– Cabletren,
– Metro Cable Mariche,
– sister CCS – Guarenas (Yards and Workshops),
– Line 5 Metro CCS,
– Line 6 Metro CCS,
– Metro Cable SAN AGUSTÍN,
– Line 2 Metro CCS,
– Line 3 Metro Los Teques,
– Ayacucho Station (Teques),
– and Metro Cable Petare and Antimano.
But these are, of course, not all the contracts awarded. In 2014, we reported that Odebrecht was involved in 32 projects, according to official data from the Venezuelan Contractor Registry (now erased).
Odebrecht is involved in Tocoma, one of the world’s largest hydroelectric projects. Expert José Aguilar, consulted on the issue, said that Odebrecht’s participation in energy projects in Venezuela exceeds $4 billion. Furthermore, the bridges over the Orinoco River and Lake Maracaibo add billions more to the tally: just one of them, the so-called third bridge over the Orinoco River, has received $2.8 billion according to Venezuelan sources and is still far from completion. The Cacique Nigale bridge in Maracaibo, which raised about $300 million in 2014, has little to show.
Such opacity in official information about public spending makes it very difficult to calculate how much Odebrecht’s adventure has cost Venezuelan taxpayers. This information was sat on by Luisa Ortega Díaz, who served as attorney general of Venezuela from 2007 to 2017. During ten long years, she witnessed all these unofficial and no-bid agreements between Chávez, Lula, Dilma, and Maduro, and did absolutely nothing. The new Attorney General, Tareck William Saab, is equally corrupt.
Odebrecht easily obtained over $25 billion in no-bid contracts in Venezuela. It’s absurd to argue that the only corruption began with the $35 million Max Arvelaiz received for Nicolás Maduro’s presidential campaign in 2013. By then, Chávez and Lula had been cooking deals to favor Odebrecht for more than a decade. By 2010, Odebrecht had contracts worth around $5.4 billion. Lava Jato might well be the largest corruption scandal in Brazil, but compared to the bribery in Venezuela, it’s child’s play.