Brazil corruption scandal widens to Dominican Republic: Diariolibre

Santo Domingo.- The Parana State Office of the Prosecutorinvestigates the operations of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht in theDominican Republic, as part of the widening political corruption scandal knownas Operation Lava Jato (gusher wash), outlet diariolibre.com reports from Curitiba,Brazil.

Already being held in the case is Marcelo Odebrecht, presidentof one of Odebrecht’s companies, sentenced to 19 years in prison, for allegedlybribing politicians and officials, among them former president Luiz Inacio Lulada Silva.

Quoted by Diario Libre, federal prosecutor Carlos Fernandode los Santos Lima affirmed that the Odebrecht case in the Dominican Republic islinked to the publicist Joao Santana, who was also a political campaign adviserto president Danilo Medina.

Santana is being held in Curitiba on charges of brokering Odebrecht’salleged bribes for electoral campaigns inside and outside Brazil.

Santana’s wife Monica Moura is also being held after under interrogationby Federal Police admitted having received money from Odebrecht to work on presidentialcampaigns in Venezuela and Angola.

De los Santos said the target of the probe had been othercountries thus far, but following the arrest of Santana and Moura upon arrivalfrom Santo Domingo on February 23, arose interest in the Dominican Republic. "Wehave established that link of Joao Santana and Odebrecht in the DominicanRepublic, but we will await for these documents to verify whether acollaboration with the Dominican Republic will be necessary."

According to De los Santos, federal authorities in Curitibahave yet to request cooperation from Dominican authorities, but noted that theyare waiting verification of documents from the Caribbean country to determinewhether to request it.

"We’ve made that link of Joao Santana and Odebrecht inthe Dominican Republic, but we will await these documents to verify whether collaborationfrom the Dominican Republic will be required."