Operation Car Wash (Portuguese: Operação Lava Jato) is an ongoing criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil, Curitiba Branch. It was initially judicially headed by Judge Sérgio Moro, and in 2019 by Judge Luiz Antonio Bonat.[1]
It was a money laundering investigation, it expanded to investigate corruption, with corruption inside itself, at Petrobras, where executives allegedly accepted bribes in return for awarding contracts to construction firms at inflated prices.[2] The investigation is called "Operation Car Wash" because it was first uncovered at a car wash in Brasília.
At least eleven other countries, mostly in Latin America, were involved, and the Brazilian company Odebrecht was deeply implicated.[3]
Lava Jato indicted and jailed some well-known politicians, including former presidents Fernando Collor de Mello, Michel Temer and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was eventually freed. Other South American presidents were also implicated such as Peru's Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Alan Garcia.
During the governments of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Néstor Kirchner, Odebrecht was awarded overvalued contracts worth at least US$9.6 billion.[4]
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