The more it's cleaned the more dirt that oozes...
Santo Domingo.- A good part of the US$15.5 billion which Brazilian State-owned bank BNDES disbursed to finance “exports of goods and services” operations for works abroad may have been diverted, Brazil outlet O Antagonist reports.
That’s the suspicion among auditors of the Accounts Court of the Union (TCU), which last year found that the Administration of the Workers’ Party benefited Odebrecht with 82% of the financing for works abroad, outlet O Antagonista reports exclusively Tuesday.
The auditors expanded the probe and found that BNDES assigned, on average, 68% of the total value of the projects, such as roads, dams and ports.
As an example, the outlet reports that 80% of the direct cost of a road is consumed in land leveling, paving, drainage and works of art. None of which can be included in “exportable goods and services” that would only be 20% of the cost.
“In short, it’s as if the BNDES had released US $215.5 million for a work of US$316.9 million, when the truth would be to provide only US$63.4 million. The technicians are reviewing each of the 140 operations, whose individual values remain under secrecy,” the report said.
The auditors’ suspicion is heightened by the coincidence of percentages of loans for absolutely different works, such as a road, a subway or even an airport.
It notes that Angola was by far the country most benefited by the operations, in a total of US$4.4 billion, followed by Venezuela (US$3.5 billion), Dominican Republic (US $2.5 billion) and Argentina (US$2.4 billion).
The auditors also suspects that subsidized money, with a long repayment term, had been used in foreign exchange operations, which further multiplied the benefits of the organization, dubbed “Orcrim” in Brazil.