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Brazil's largest construction company Odebrecht paid millions in kickbacks to Mexican state-run oil company Pemex, as well as too the campaign of former Peruvian president Ollanta Humala, as part of a multinational corruption scheme.
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Marcelo Odebrecht took a plea agreement to reduce his penalty of 19 years in prison in exchange for the list of names of people and organizations his company bribed to obtain contracts in different countries.
The CEO stated that the company he ran paid US$3 million in illegal money to the presidential campaign of Ollanta Humala in Peru in 2011. Odebrecht said the money was given in parts to Nadine Heredia, wife of Humala, according to a report by La Republica.
The Attorney General's office in Brazil, which is investigating the case, questioned Odebrecht for several hours at the headquarters of the Federal Police in Curitiba, southern Brazil.
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Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo is currently a fugitive after being investigated for bribe allegations that the Brazilian company paid US$20 million during his presidency, from 2001 until 2006. Odebrecht said in December the company had paid US$29 million in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014.
Odebrecht also admitted to bribes given to officials at the state-run oil company Pemex in Mexico between 2010 and 2014. The Attorney General of Mexico added that to this date it has received the statements of 10 officials and nine former Pemex officials.
The office said the information acquired will help "bring to justice those responsible for this international corruption incident."
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The company alleged last year that it had paid more than US$785 million since 2001 to achieve public contracts in at least a dozen countries. The news comes as the businessmen announced the company had paid eight minsiters of Brazil's president Michel Temer and are under investigation for fraud.
Odebrecht recently testified that some 75 percent of all election campaigns in Brazil received illegal and undeclared financing.
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