Federal prosecutors formally accused executives from Brazil’s top builders of participating in the country’s biggest corruption scandal in history.
Prosecutors on Friday accused Marcelo Odebrecht, chief executive officer of Odebrecht SA, and Otavio Marques de Azevedo, president of Andrade Gutierrez SA, with corruption, money laundering and forming a criminal organization.
Now a judge will decide whether to file charges against them, Bloomberg reported. Odebrecht denies any illegal actions, company lawyer Marcos Verissimo told reporters in Sao Paulo following the prosecutor’s news conference. Andrade’s lawyers are studying the information presented Friday, which does not appear to include any novel content, the company said in an emailed statement. It has said in the past its executives are innocent.
Prosecutors and police allege contractors formed a cartel to win bids at state-run Petrobras, giving kickbacks to executives at the oil producer and to politicians.
