BBC
Rio De Janeiro - Brazilian prosecutors have discovered evidence alleging price-fixing, overcharging, and bidding collusion in the more than 10 billion dollars of construction contracts used for new facilities for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, sources close to the investigation have told BBC.
The allegations stem from the earlier and ongoing investigation of the state run oil giant Petrobras, or Operation Car Wash, which has centered around bribery for construction contracts granted by the company, and has led to the resignations and arrests for multiple high level officials, including politicians close to Acting President Michel Temer, who replaced Dilma Rousseff, the chair of the board of Petrobras when much of the most serious charges took place.
One firm under investigation, Odebrecht, is involved in over 50% of Olympic construction projects.
Cash assets seized by investigators have threatened to put a halt to construction around the event, and in some cases the City of Rio de Janeiro has had to step in as a lender, pouring capital into projects in order to continue construction.
Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro and a prospective 2018 presidential candidate, said it was city hall’s job to ensure Olympic venues are constructed on timeline.
Olympic construction in Rio de Janeiro has occured at a scale of urban remodeling not seen since Barcelona in 1992.
The Rio de Janeiro metro system has spent 1 billion dollars to construct a new, six stop metro line that will service Olympic facilities in in Barra de Tijuca.
The Port of Rio de Janeiro, a complex stretching through seven neighborhoods, has been completely remodeled, adding over fifteen kilometers of bike paths, a light rail system, and new storefronts, residential buildings, and parks along over seventy kilometers of streets.
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