it's been described as the world's biggest corruption scandal involving more than five billion dollars worth of illegal payments that so far embroiled Brazil's current and former presidents at least two other former South American leaders and key members of Brazil's business elite many of whom are now making the adjustment from billionaire lifestyle to a life behind bars it's gone hand in hand with Brazil's worst recession in decades but there has been a silver lining to all this chaos at the heart of the scandal are two corporate giants Petrobras Brazil's state controlled oil company and Odebrecht Latin
America's largest engineering firm [Music] Petrobras awarded building contracts to Odebrecht and other smaller companies these companies in cahoots with Petrobras would overcharge on the true cost of the work some Petrobras directors would turn a blind eye and 3% of every deal would be siphoned off into a joint slush fund which accumulated millions of dollars these funds were laundered in a variety of small scale businesses such as car washes and petrol stations and then used to finance political campaigns and bribe politicians in an attempt to win or influence government policy in 2014 a mundane police inquiry
into small-scale money-laundering businesses uncovered a web of corruption the investigation codenamed Operation car wash revealed a flow of money all the way from a number of Petrobras and Odebrecht executives to politicians at the very top of the political system and once exposed it began a reckoning that brought those involved to justice Lulla brazil's popular former president was found guilty of receiving an apartment worth around $700,000 he's appealing against his near 10-year jail sentence in June 2017 Brazil's current president Michel temer was charged with corruption as well however the lower house of Congress has voted not
to proceed with the charges and although Tammuz predecessor Dilma Rousseff II hasn't been directly linked to the corruption scandal the investigation clouded her presidency she was impeached in 2016 for deceptive accounting of government funds the vast scale of the scandal soon unfolded today more than 80 sitting Brazilian politicians are now under investigation and the scandal has spread to 16 countries across four continents implicating other leaders and politicians Peru's former president Alejandro Toledo is a fugitive with a warrant out for his arrest he's accused of taking bribes from Odebrecht another of Peru's former presidents Ianto Amala
has been detained together with his wife for alleged money laundering linked to the scandal and the company's at the heart of the scandal since September 2014 the total value of Petra brasses shares has decreased by 80 billion dollars at the end of 2016 the US Department of Justice fined Odebrecht 2.6 billion dollars for the bribery scheme and billionaire CEO Marcelo Odebrecht is currently serving a 19 year jail sentence the scandal has compounded the worst recession on record to make life very hard for many in Brazil 13.5 million people are unemployed and the country's GDP is
still 9% below its pre-recession peak but the scandal has also brought hope for while allegations of bribes and kickbacks are nothing new in Brazil this time the corrupt are paying the price for their actions because of this ninety-six percent of Brazilians want the investigation to continue they hoped finally holding the corrupt to account will weaken the blight of corruption in their country there are even calls for Sergio Moro the federal judge overseeing the investigation to run for president in 2018 the investigation has had a silver lining it has laid bare the financial foul play at
the heart of a Brazilian state but it has also illustrated the maturity and independence of Brazil's justice system
