Politicians and ‘favours’ unhappy bedfellows
COMMENT: The end of March saw ‘operation Skala’ launched in Brazil, a federal investigation into alleged bribes paid by port sector companies to government personnel in return for ‘favours’ such as concession contract extension, writes Mike Mundy.
Nine people in all were arrested including a principal of the Libra Group, Celina Torrealba and the owner of Rodrimar, Antônio Celso. There were also other members of the Libra Group targeted who were out of the country at the time as well, notably, as two friends of the country’s President Michael Temer: Colonel João Batista Lima and José Yunes, both a friend and former adviser to Temer.
The essence of the allegations is that the port companies influenced, through bribes, the content of the so-called 2017 Ports Decree, signed by President Temer, to facilitate contract extension. The enquiry is ongoing and comes in the wake of other corruption scandals, notably ‘Operation Car Wash’, which focused on executives from the state-owned oil company Petrobras accepting bribes from construction companies for the award of contracts at inflated prices. This investigation, in turn, led into other grey areas with ultimately dozens of politicians accused of wrongdoing, not least of whom was the country’s very popular former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He began his 12-year sentence at the beginning of April.
It should be emphasised that the accused parties, referenced above, vehemently deny any involvement in corruption – the Rodrimar Web Site features a long statement to this effect. Supporters of President Michael Temer also label Skala as an elaborate plot designed to derail his intention to run in the October Presidential election. He is under direct investigation for introducing a decree which benefited a logistics company.
Corruption today – as experience in Brazil suggests – is becoming an increasingly high risk business. A growing number of countries are introducing new and more elaborate anti-bribery and corruption legislation as well as implementing aggressive enforcement by government regulators. There is more co-operation between countries on such issues and more are introducing individual criminal liability for bribery linked offences. The international ports sector can progressively expect to come under the microscope in this context.