Odebrecht paid FARC protection money

CONSTRUCTION  giant Odebrecht reeling from its involvement in Brazil’s  Petrobras scandal and under investigation in Panama and  countries across Latin America, gave money to the Armed Forces Revolutionaries of Colombia (FARC) for 20 years.

The payments were made to ensure the safety of its projects in Colombia, according to the investigative  weekly Veja.

According to the Brazilian publication, two executives of the company told Brazil’s  attorney general that the payments, between $50,000 and $100,000 a  month, were made in return for  “permits” for the execution of works in zones controlled by the guerrilla group.

The measure was taken in the 1990s, After the FARC kidnapped two Odebrecht executives.

The company appealed to a US group specializing in conflict situations which negotiated the release of the hostages and then suggested a definitive solution to avoid new problems of that type, says Veja.

Called “guerrilla tax” by the FARC, the payments were classified as “Operating cost” or “territorial tax” in the company’s balance sheets.

The agreement allowed Odebrecht to carry out, among other works, the Ruta del Sol, a Motorway of more than 500 kilometers, linking the center of Colombia with the Caribbean coast

Odebrecht is one of the main companies that are the subject of the Lava Jato operation, which has revealed a system of corruption mounted by Brazilian civil engineering groups to obtain, contracts with the state-owned oil company Petrobras in exchange for bribes.