Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water........And now this. Well, sports fans and other game watchers, Wilma is gone and Lula has been indicted. The "Car Wash" investigation marches on in South America's largest economy or what's left of it. Looks like the DOJ has done some excellent work regarding bribery in the neighborhood of Brazil. The construction giant Odebrecht has been exposed for what it really is: a money machine for the leadership of many countries in Latin America, or more to the point, a cash cow for the leadership of the company and the political machines of those countries with which it has contracts, or what appear to be contracts.
Over the last 10 years, the company has paid bribes to the tune of $800 millions, as in $800 million. Hmmm. Sounds corrupt to me. Now, Mr. Marcelo Odebrecht has admitted wrong doing, ie., paying bribes, in a plea deal so that he doesn't spend his life in jail. A subsidiary, Braskem, a petrochemical giant, has also been implicated and will pay. Where does it all end? Nobody knows, but if one is to "drain the swamp", one has to dig deep into the muck before there's any possibility of making the drainage work. The legal beagles of the DOJ know their business and have put the sunlight on the vast network of corruption which has helped to ruin many economic ventures in public infrastructure: huge projects that are never completed, projects that have huge cost overruns, and private individuals enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and local governments.
It is ugly, but it gives the rest of us hope that the future just might improve for millions of citizens who wish an end to the stigma of corruption in their midst.
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