Pope accepts resignation of Brazilian bishop

Yahoo – AFP, May 17, 2019

Pope Francis last week passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know
about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors (AFP Photo/
Vincenzo PINTO)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Brazilian bishop Vilson Dias de Oliveira, the Vatican said Friday in a statement.

The bishop is under investigation for alleged extortion of priests in his diocese, and the covering-up of sexual abuse cases, according to Brazilian media reports.

Dias de Oliveira allegedly protected a priest accused of clerical abuse.

The bishop confessed to police in April that he had swiped $4,000 (3,580 euros) from parish funds for personal use, telling them he did so because he was having financial difficulties, the reports said.

The Vatican always announces when Francis has accepted the resignation of a bishop, but never explains why.

"Dear brothers and sisters, in recent months we have had to bear all sorts of crosses through attacks against our Limeira church, against me and other presbyters," Dias de Oliveira said in a statement.

"I acknowledge my limitations, but I also carry in my heart all the love I have received from the good people of God.

"I ask to resign for the love of Christ and for the good of the diocese," he said in the letter published by the diocese of Limeira, a city in the Sao Paulo state in southern Brazil.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by a global clerical paedophilia scandal, with victims coming forward in countries ranging from Australia to Chile, Germany and the United States.

Pope Francis passed a landmark new measure this month to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light.

Bolsonaro cancels New York gala trip as sponsors withdraw

Yahoo – AFP, May 4, 2019

A gala set to honor Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro in New York has lost
several sponsors (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

New York (AFP) - Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday cancelled plans to attend a New York gala in his honor after several companies withdrew their sponsorship and thousands of people demanded it be scrapped.

The gala, organized by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce for May 14, had attracted widespread criticism over the far-right president's record, with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio describing Bolsonaro as "a dangerous man".

Bolsonaro decided to cancel the trip due to "resistance and deliberate attacks by the Mayor of New York and the pressure of interest groups" on organisers, a spokesman said in a statement.

The event had been due to be held at the New York Museum of Natural History, before it pulled out of hosting.

It was moved to the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square, where protesters have been gathering every night outside seeking the complete cancellation of the event.

On Friday, US airline Delta, British daily Financial Times and consulting firm Bain & Company all confirmed to AFP that they would not sponsor the dinner as planned.

Bolsonaro was to receive a Person of the Year award at the event.

Every year, the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce awards the prize to a Brazilian and an American at a gala dinner, with famous guests on hand. The event -- which costs $30,000 a plate -- was sold out.

Elected late October with an ultraconservative agenda, Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for his environmental policy.

Since taking office in January, he has reduced or eliminated funding for indigenous protection organizations.

He also placed them under the responsibility of the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina Dias, who is close to the massive agribusiness industry, which is accused of aggravating deforestation.

Auto titan Ghosn under arrest, faces ouster at Nissan

Yahoo – AFP, Natsuko FUKUE, November 19, 2018

Nicknamed "Le Cost Killer", Carlos Ghosn has turned around Nissan and Renault
but now faces arrest (AFP Photo/VANDERLEI ALMEIDA)

Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn faces being fired this week after being arrested in Japan over allegations of financial misconduct, the firm said Monday, in a stunning fall from grace for one of the world's best-known businessmen.

Ghosn's arrest and his likely dismissal from Nissan, as well as possibly from Mitsubishi and Renault, sent shockwaves through the auto industry, where he is a towering figure, credited with turning around several major manufacturers.

Besides being chairman of Nissan, the 64-year-old is also CEO of Renault and leads the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance.

Nissan's board will meet Thursday to decide his fate, and Mitsubishi said it would propose he be dismissed as chairman "promptly." Renault said its board would meet "shortly", after Ghosn was detained over allegations including underreporting his income.

At a hastily organised press conference, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa expressed "despair," but also suggested that Ghosn had accrued too much power and eluded proper oversight.

"Too much authority was given to one person in terms of governance," he told reporters at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama.

"I have to say that this is a dark side of the Ghosn era which lasted for a long time."

The news of Ghosn's downfall emerged unexpectedly on Monday evening, with local media first reporting he was being questioned by prosecutors and that Nissan's headquarters was being raided.

Shortly afterwards, Nissan said in a statement that it had been investigating Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly for months after a whistleblower report.

French President Emmanuel Macron, seen here with Ghosn at a Renault factory 

visit this month, said his government would be 'extremely vigilant' about the 

automaker's stability (AFP Photo/ludovic MARIN)

"These two gentleman are arrested this evening, that's what I understand," Saikawa said at the press conference.

He said the company had uncovered years of financial misconduct including under-reporting of income and inappropriate personal use of company assets.

Saikawa gave few details about the nature of the improprieties, including refusing to confirm reports that Ghosn under-reported his income by 5 billion yen, or around $44 million, over five years from 2011.

He said an ongoing investigation limited what details could be shared, and refused to be drawn on whether other people were involved, saying only: "These two gentlemen are the masterminds, that is definite."

A Japanese judicial source told AFP that Ghosn could legally be held for up to 23 days but would possibly be freed on bail before then.

News of his arrest caused Renault shares to fall 8.43 percent in Paris trading. The reports emerged after the trading day was over in Tokyo.

The apparent disintegration of Ghosn's career raises questions about the alliance of the three car companies, which the Brazil-born executive was often believed to be holding together personally.

Saikawa insisted "the partnership among the three entities will not be affected by this event," but he was unable to give details on how Renault and Mitsubishi planned to respond, or who might succeed Ghosn.

Ghosn has been regarded as the glue holding together the sprawling alliance 

of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and questions have been raised in the 

past about how his eventual departure might affect the coalition (AFP

 Photo/Behrouz MEHRI)

'Man of charisma'

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Paris would be "extremely vigilant" about the stability of Renault and the three-firm alliance after Ghosn's arrest. France owns a 15 percent stake in Renault.

Speaking on the sidelines of a eurozone finance ministers' meeting in Brussels, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the government would "do everything as a shareholder represented on Renault's board to ensure operational continuity and stable governance at Renault".

Ghosn's arrest will "rock the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance as he is the keystone of the alliance," said Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm.

"He is the man of charisma for the alliance. It is likely to have a negative impact on its brand image," he told AFP.

"It's the future of the alliance that seems in play, because the thing holding it together seemed to be Ghosn himself," said Daniel Larrouturou, a senior executive at investment firm Diamant Bleu Gestion.

The arrest is an astonishing reversal of fortune for Ghosn, often feted for his success at turning around failing companies with hard-nosed tactics that earned him the nickname "Le Cost Killer" in France.

Renault came to the rescue of the then-ailing Japanese automaker Nissan in 1999 and parachuted in Ghosn, who set about slashing costs and jobs in a huge corporate overhaul.

In 2016, Ghosn also took charge at troubled Mitsubishi after Nissan threw it a lifeline, buying a one-third stake for about $2.2 billion as it wrestled with a mileage-cheating scandal that hammered sales.

He is credited with saving Nissan from bankruptcy through measures including closing plants and restructuring, and he has instant name recognition in Japan, where he is a rare high-profile foreign executive.

But he has also faced opposition, including over his pay, with his compensation package at Renault prompting a spat with shareholders and criticism from France's then-economy minister Macron.

In February he was forced to accept a 30 percent pay cut from the 7.25 million euros ($8.3 million) he took home as Renault CEO last year.

Saikawa said he was still thinking through whether Ghosn was "a charismatic figure or a tyrant."

"But looking at the facts he has done what not many other people could have done," he added, referring to Ghosn's overhauls of companies.

#UPDATE Nissan board members have voted unanimously to sack Carlos #Ghosn as chairman, a spectacular fall from grace for the once-revered boss whose arrest for financial misconduct stunned the car industry and the business world https://t.co/05djM9Xmt4 pic.twitter.com/94UghNazOZ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 22, 2018

Former CEO of Schiedam-based oil firm jailed for three years in bribery scandal

DutchNews, October 1, 2018

Photo: SBM Offshore

The former CEO of a Schiedam-based oil services company has been sentenced to three years in prison in the US for his part in a large-scale international bribery scandal. 

Tony Mace, 66, a British national, was also fined $150,000 (€130,000) after he admitted being involved in the bribery of foreign officials in Brazil, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. 

Mace greased the palms of local officials to secure new contracts while acting as CEO of SBM Offshore between 2008 and 2011, US prosecutors said. He kept a spreadsheet detailing payments worth €16 million which were made to five officials in Equatorial Guinea. 

Robert Zubiate, a 66-year-old sales and marketing executive executive from California, was fined $50,000 and jailed for two and a half years for his role. Both men pleaded guilty last November to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). 

‘Their actions rewarded corrupt officials’ greed and tilted the playing field against honest, law-abiding companies,’ said assistant attorney general Brian Benczkowski in a statement. 

‘Today they paid a heavy price for their crimes. Their sentences should serve as a warning to corporate executives everywhere: if you pay bribes to advance your business interests, we will catch you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.’ 

The corruption came to light when a whistleblower contacted the authorities in 2012. The company earlier reached a financial settlement worth $400 million. The company employs almost 5,000 people worldwide.

US, Brazil fine Petrobras $853 mn in bribery scandal

Yahoo - AFP, Douglas Gillison, 27 September 2018

Petrobras executives 'cooked the books' to hide bribes paid in some cases to
halt an investigation into its contacts, US authorities say

US and Brazilian authorities have fined Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras more than $853 million for covering up a massive bribery scheme involving Brazilian politicians and political parties, the US Justice Department announced Thursday.

Petrobras said the issues were uncovered as part of the "Operation Car Wash" investigation -- the scandal that snared Brazil's jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as well as many of the country's political and business elites.

Petrobras executives at "the highest levels," including board members, orchestrated hundreds of millions in bribes "and then cooked the books to conceal the bribe payments from investors and regulators," US Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said in a statement.

US stock market regulators also charged the company with misleading investors as they concealed "a massive bribery and bid-rigging scheme."

The company inflated the cost of projects and then contractors "paid billions in kickbacks to the Petrobras executives, who shared the illegal payments with Brazilian politicians who helped them obtain their high-level positions at Petrobras," the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.

Petrobras erroneously recorded these payments "resulting in an estimated $2.5 billion overstatement of assets," the SEC said.

Petrobras agreed to pay $933.5 million to the SEC to return ill-gotten gains, but this sum will be reduced by the amount of any payments made in a class action lawsuit by investors filed in New York.

'Car wash'

The actions the company admitted to occurred while Petrobras was traded on the New York Stock Exchange, giving US authorities jurisdiction, the Justice Department said.

Petrobras admitted some executives funneled payments to politicians and political parties, and that the company failed to keep accurate books and records about property and equipment, as required by law.

The company said "Operation Car Wash" was "a corrupt scheme that harmed and caused severe financial loss to Petrobras."

The resolution with US and Brazilian authorities "is in Petrobras's best interest and that of its shareholders. It puts an end to the uncertainties, risks, burdens and costs of potential prosecution and protracted litigation in the United States," the company said in a statement.

Brazilian authorities will receive 80 percent of the fine, and the remainder will be collected by the Justice Department and the SEC.

Prosecutors say a Petrobras executive directed payments to stop a Brazilian parliamentary inquiry into company contracts.

The executive allegedly funneled bribes from company contractors into the campaign of an unnamed Brazilian politician who had power over where Petrobras could build refineries.

Executives then falsely certified Petrobras financial statements to the US Securities and Exchange Commission even while they were personally involved in the bribery.

"According to Petrobras's admissions ... members of the Petrobras executive board were involved in facilitating and directing millions of dollars in corrupt payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil, and members of Petrobras's board of directors were also involved in facilitating bribes that a major Petrobras contractor was paying to Brazilian politicians," the Justice Department statement said.

As part of the agreement announced Thursday, Petrobras agreed to continue cooperating with in any continuing investigations into the matter, including actions taken by individuals, and to make changes to its internal compliance program.

The settlement involved a "non-prosecution agreement," meaning no charges will be brought against the company. Prosecutors may separately take action against individuals.

More than 40 countries including the United States have criminalized paying bribes abroad to win business, which authorities say defrauds investors while promoting corruption and political instability.

The company's shares rose on Thursday morning in Sao Paolo and New York.

Brazil's Lula ignores arrest deadline

Yahoo – AFP, Carola SOLE with Sebastian SMITH in Rio de Janeiro, April 6, 2018

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets supporters at the
metalworkers' union building in Sao Bernardo do Campo, hours before a
deadline he eventually missed to surrender and begin serving a 12-year
prison sentence or face arrest (AFP Photo/Miguel SCHINCARIOL)

São Bernardo do Campo (Brazil) (AFP) - Ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the controversial frontrunner in Brazil's October presidential election, ignored a deadline to surrender and start a 12-year prison sentence for corruption Friday.

Holed up with thousands of cheering supporters in the metalworkers' union building in his hometown of Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, the 72-year-old let the 5:00 pm (2000 GMT) deadline pass without public comment.

The development further heated up the drama over attempts to put behind bars the veteran leftist, who ruled from 2003-2011 and leads in polls ahead of the elections.

He was ordered Thursday by Brazil's top anti-corruption judge, Sergio Moro, to surrender voluntarily to police and begin incarceration in the southern city of Curitiba.

Moro gave him 24 hours, saying the cell, a separate room with its own toilet, was ready, and that Lula would not be handcuffed -- if he came quietly.

It was not clear what the next step would be. However, local media reported that Lula's lawyers were negotiating the surrender.

It would be impossible for police to arrest him by force without the likelihood of major crowd trouble.

Supporters of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rally outside the Metallurgical Union in Sao 

Bernardo do Campo after a judge gave the ex-president 24 hours to surrender and 

begin a 12-year prison term (AFP Photo/MARCELO CHELLO)

Much of the day, Lula had been waiting in hope that the country's top appeals court, the Superior Tribunal of Justice, would temporarily suspend his arrest warrant. However, the petition was rejected shortly before the deadline expired.

Lula was convicted last year of taking a luxury apartment as a kickback from a big construction company. He lost a lower court appeal in January and saw his sentence increased from nine to 12 years.

But to his Workers' Party faithful, Lula is a victim of a right-wing plot to prevent him from returning to power.

The longer he remained holed up inside the union building, the bigger the crowd grew outside.

"Lula is innocent, Lula for president!" supporters chanted.

Renata Swiecik, an unemployed mother of four who had joined the human shield, urged Lula not to hand himself over.

"We are here to resist to the end. Lula will not be a prisoner in 2018, he'll be president and help the people once more," said Swiecik, 31.

Brazilian Federal Judge Sergio Moro is in charge of the sprawling "Car Wash" 

probe, which has revealed systemic, high-level embezzlement and bribery 

throughout Brazilian business and politics (AFP Photo/Heuler Andrey)

Corruption battle

Lula's imprisonment is being celebrated on the right and among prosecutors supporting the "Car Wash" probe, which has revealed systemic, high-level embezzlement and bribery throughout Brazilian business and politics over the last four years.

To them, Lula epitomizes Brazil's corruption-riddled elite. His conviction is the biggest "Car Wash" scalp by far.

"I want Lula in prison, I want a better future and with him in the leadership we won't have that," said Maura Moraes de Oliveira, 51, who works as a maid in Curitiba.

"Not only Lula should be locked up, but all the corrupt, a complete cleaning."

Operation "Car Wash" was named after the service station where agents initially investigated a minor money laundering scheme in 2014, before realizing that they'd stumbled on a gargantuan web of embezzlement and bribery at state oil company Petrobras and right through the political classes.

Lula, who grew up poor and with little formal education before becoming a trade union leader and politician, has long said he will go down fighting.

In theory, once someone has been convicted and lost a lower court appeal, he or she is barred from running for office under Brazil's clean-slate law.

Still, even in prison, Lula has the right to register as a candidate. It would then be up to the Superior Electoral Tribunal to rule on whether his candidacy could stand.

Although Lula would almost certainly be blocked, he could use the process to maintain his political influence.

VIDEO: Leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva becomes Brazil's first ex-president to be convicted and imprisoned for corruption pic.twitter.com/GY8wmir4Oq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 8, 2018

Brazilian president's pardons ignite corruption row

Yahoo – AFP, 23 December 2017

Brazilian president's pardons ignite corruption row

President Michel Temer was accused Saturday of handing Brazilians convicted of corruption a get out of jail card with changes to the traditional collective Christmas pardon.

Temer, who has been charged with corruption himself, issued the annual decree Friday, expanding the categories of prisoners eligible for early release.

The main shift was to lift the previous exclusion on all those serving sentences of more than 12 years. Under Temer's changes, the length of sentence no longer matters and a prisoner also needs only to have served 20 percent of the sentence to qualify, rather than 25 percent as under the previous rules.

"It's a Christmas party for the corrupt," lashed out Deltan Dallagnol, one of the chief prosecutors in operation "Car Wash," as the biggest anti-corruption probe in Brazilian history is known.

"Practice corruption with only 20 percent of the consequences," he said on Facebook.

Dallagnol referred to the case of construction tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht who was released this week into house arrest as part of a steep reduction of his sentence in exchange for providing devastating testimony to "Car Wash" investigators.

Originally, Odebrecht had been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison, but saw that cut to 10 years, with only two and a half behind bars and a transfer now to his luxury Sao Paulo house.

His testimony and that of fellow company executives was used to go after scores of politicians who allegedly took bribes.

Temer's decree will undermine prosecutors' bargaining power in such cases, Dallagnol said.

"If Marcelo Odebrecht could have seen this Christmas pardon from President Temer, he'd never have struck a plea bargain!" Dallagnol tweeted.

"Open season for corruption continues. They defraud bids. They embezzle from health, education and security! Come, steal, and head off!! That's the message."

Accused of corruption, Temer is the first sitting president to face criminal charges. Congress, where many members are also facing corruption probes, twice voted against putting him on trial.

Responding to the outcry, Justice Minister Torquato Jardim held a press conference in the capital Brasilia Saturday, telling journalists that Temer's expansion of the pardons was done for completely different reasons.

"The prisons are overcrowded. That is a reality we cannot ignore. Those who will be let out did not commit heinous crimes and are not considered serious threats," the Correio Braziliense newspaper quoted him as saying. 

Brazil arrests Rio 2016 Olympic committee chairman on corruption charges

Yahoo – AFP, Carola SOLÉ, Oct 5, 2017

Brazil's Olympic Committee chief Carlos Nuzman (C) is escorted from his
home by federal police in Rio de Janeiro (AFP Photo/Mauro PIMENTEL)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazilian police on Thursday arrested the chairman of the country's Olympic Committee as part of a probe into alleged vote buying to secure Rio's hosting of the 2016 Games.

Twenty federal police agents swept into Rio de Janeiro's upscale Leblon neighborhood in an early morning operation to arrest 75-year-old Carlos Nuzman.

The Rio 2016 committee's chief operating officer Leonardo Gryner was arrested in a separate raid.

A grim-faced Nuzman left his home wearing a dark business suit in the Rio heat as he was escorted by police.

The agents, who were operating on orders from a federal judge, also seized documents.

Nuzman and Gryner "will be charged with the crimes of corruption, money laundering and criminal association," police said in a statement.

Nuzman appeared relaxed and chatted with the agents as he entered the police station.

The men were sent to the Benefica prison in northern Rio, a police source told AFP.

With their detention, the vice president of Brazil's Olympic Committee, Paulo Wanderley, has temporarily taken charge of the body.

Assets increased 457%

The arrests are the latest in a widespread corruption scandal rocking Brazil that has ensnared many of the country's top political and business figures, and which often has links to abroad.

Brazil's Olympic Committee chief Carlos Nuzman (L), whom prosecutors say 

increased his assets by 457 percent in the past decade with no clear source for 

the new income, is escorted inside the federal police headquarters in Rio de

 Janeiro (AFP Photo/Mauro PIMENTEL)

It is "essential" that the suspects be detained "as a guarantee of public order" to allow their assets to be blocked, and to stop them from engaging in any criminal act or interfering with evidence, the Rio prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Prosecutors asked for some $319 million dollars in assets belonging to Nuzman and Gryner to be blocked.

Nuzman, who has headed Brazil's Olympic Committee since 1995, saw his assets increase 457 percent over the past decade with no clear source for the new income, prosecutors said.

Nuzman also tried to hide his wealth, often in foreign accounts, the statement read.

He only declared he owned 16 gold bars weighing one kilogram (2.2 pounds) each when he was questioned a month ago, prosecutors said.

'Unfair Play - Second Half'

Following an investigation dubbed "Unfair Play" that spanned several countries, Brazilian officials last month said Nuzman was the "lynchpin" in a plot to bribe the International Olympic Committee into awarding Rio de Janeiro last year's Games.

At the time, Nuzman was detained and questioned and authorities confiscated his passport.

Investigators also searched the offices of Brazil's Olympic Committee and several companies suspected of links to the scandal.

Thursday's operation in Rio was dubbed "Unfair Play - Second Half."

Authorities allege that former Rio governor Sergio Cabral, who is serving a 14-year prison term for bribery and money laundering, was the mastermind of the plot, which saw $2 million in bribes paid to Papa Massata Diack, the son of Senegalese IOC member Lamine Diack, before the 2009 vote.

Leonardo Gryner, the chief executive officer of the Rio 2016 organizing committee, 

pictured in 2012, has been arrested and faces charges of corruption, money 

laundering and criminal association (AFP Photo/WILL OLIVER)

Businessman Arturo Soares, known as "King Arthur," a top contractor for Cabral's administration, allegedly delivered the payment three days before the IOC vote in Copenhagen in October 2009. Rio beat bids from Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo to host the 2016 games.

Honorary IOC member

Rio prosecutors say they have new information conclusively showing how the payments were made. In their statement they cite an email from Papa Massata directly asking Nuzman for help with "the final process," and an email discussing difficulties in bank transfers.

Rio 2016 was credited with being a sporting and organizational success, but revelations of massive corruption during the preparations and now even in the awarding of the Games have tarnished the legacy.

The latest scandal cast a pall over an IOC meeting in Lima last month following the designation of Paris for the 2024 Games and Los Angeles as the 2028 host city.

IOC President Thomas Bach was asked at the time about Nuzman's role in the organization as an honorary member. Bach pledged the IOC's cooperation, but noted that there are limits to any sports organization's powers of investigation.

Ban Ki-moon, chief of the IOC's ethics commission, on Thursday also pledged cooperation and asked Brazilian authorities to supply all the available information on the case.

"Given the new facts, the IOC Ethics Commission may consider provisional measures while respecting Mr Nuzman’s right to be heard," the IOC said in a statement.

The group "will not comment further on this matter until a recommendation is issued by the IOC Ethics Commission," and it "reiterates that the presumption of innocence prevails."

Brazilian ex-speaker sentenced to 15 years for corruption

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, March 30, 2017

Brazil's former President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha, arrives
 at the Forensic Medicine Institute in Curitiba, on October 20, 2016 (AFP Photo/
Heuler Andrey)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Eduardo Cunha, the once-powerful speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress who spearheaded the impeachment of leftist president Dilma Rousseff, was sentenced Thursday to more than 15 years in prison for corruption.

The sentence, imposed by top anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro in Curitiba, was a landmark for the country's battle against rampant, high-level graft.

Moro, frequently cited as a hero by Brazilians at demonstrations, cited Cunha's conviction for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in handing down the sentence of 15 years and four months.

Cunha "took wrongful advantage of his mandate as a federal (congressional) deputy," Moro wrote. "There can be no more serious offense than betraying the parliamentary mandate and the sacred trust placed in him by the people for personal gain."

Cunha's defense lawyer immediately said an appeal would be lodged, G1 news site reported. However, Cunha will remain incarcerated in Curitiba, in the south of Brazil.

Prosecutors said he took millions of dollars in bribes as part of a sprawling corruption network in which politicians and major contractors embezzled from state oil company Petrobras. The investigation, dubbed Operation Car Wash, has upended Brazilian politics, with dozens of politicians accused of participating in the scheme.

A member of current President Michel Temer's PMDB party, Cunha, 58, was one of Brazil's most influential politicians until he was removed from his speaker's post in July and arrested in October 2016.

When he outmaneuvered Rousseff and triggered impeachment proceedings, she was replaced by Temer, then her conservative vice president in a coalition between the PMDB and Rousseff's Workers' Party. This briefly left Cunha first in the line of succession for the presidency.

Widely hated by Brazilians, Cunha earned a reputation as the ultimate master of dark political arts and was dubbed Brazil's Frank Underwood -- the scheming, corrupt anti-hero of the hit Netflix series "House of Cards" about a US politician.

Symbol of rot

Cunha is only one of many politicians tainted by the Car Wash probe or by other investigations. No less than one in three members of the lower house -- 155 out of 513 deputies -- face criminal cases, according to the specialist political website Congresso em Foco.

That number could shoot up soon when the Supreme Court, which handles all cases involving sitting politicians, acts on a request by the prosecutor general to open new Car Wash-related probes against about 100 as-yet unnamed politicians.

Among the many big names already in the crosshairs is former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a larger-than-life figure in leftwing Latin American politics who founded the Workers' Party and helped Rousseff into power.

Like Cunha, Lula is accused of corruption and money laundering.

However even in this rogue's gallery Cunha stood out, a feared and grudgingly admired political operator who ended up symbolizing the thieving and lack of accountability in the capital Brasilia.

Even before his arrest, Cunha was already in trouble for lying to Congress. Through a variety of delaying tactics he managed to avoid his eventual expulsion from the legislature for months.

According to analysts, Cunha triggered the impeachment of Rousseff -- after a long period of merely threatening to make the move -- in order to stave off his own legal problems.

Brazil's Odebrecht, Braskem pay record fine in bribery case

Yahoo – AFP, Heather Scott, with Sebastian Smith in Rio de Janeiro, December 22, 2016

Brazilian construction company Odebrecht pled guilty to paying hundreds of
millions to bribe government officials in countries on three continents (AFP
Photo/YASUYOSHI CHIBA)

Washington (AFP) - Scandal-plagued Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht and petrochemical affiliate Braskem have agreed to pay a record $3.5 billion to settle a vast international bribery case, US officials said.

Odebrecht, a key player in the Petrobras corruption scandal gripping Brazil, agreed to a fine of $4.5 billion but said it was only able to pay $2.6 billion, the US Justice Department said in a statement. Braskem, meanwhile, will pay $957 million.

The fines are to be paid to Brazilian, Swiss and US authorities, the department said, calling it "the largest-ever global foreign bribery resolution."

It is the latest in a string of terrible headlines for Odebrecht, which Brazilian investigators say was one of the ringleaders of a scheme to plunder billions of dollars from state oil company Petrobras.

Revelation of the scandal has rocked Brazil's political and business establishment to its foundations, with ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva facing trial and current President Michel Temer reportedly under suspicion.

The bribery case settled Wednesday includes the Petrobras allegations, but is even bigger.

The Odebrecht conglomerate pleaded guilty to bribing government officials and political parties to the tune of $788 million to secure business on three continents -- mostly in Brazil, but also 11 other countries in Latin America and Africa.

"Odebrecht and Braskem used a hidden but fully functioning Odebrecht business unit -- a 'Department of Bribery,' so to speak -- that systematically paid hundreds of millions of dollars to corrupt government officials in countries on three continents," US Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sung-Hee Suh said in a statement.

"Such brazen wrongdoing calls for a strong response from law enforcement, and through a strong effort with our colleagues in Brazil and Switzerland, we have seen just that."

Political fallout

In the main scheme, Odebrecht targeted top Brazilian politicians and executives at Petrobras for more than a decade starting in about 2001. The bribes were used to secure inflated contracts and even get favorable legislation passed in Congress.

Suh praised Brazil's judiciary for tackling the issue head on.

"I cannot praise their efforts enough. They have been under enormous pressure, done an extraordinary job of initiating the investigation and carrying it through," she said.

The Brazilian probe, known by its codename Operation Carwash, has cast dark shadows over two of Brazil's most important companies, Petrobras and Odebrecht, adding to economic pain as the country flounders in deep recession.

Odebrecht's jailed boss Marcelo Odebrecht and 76 other current and former executives have signed plea deals agreeing to tell all in exchange for lighter sentences.

The Brazilian press has described the deal as potentially apocalyptic for the political establishment.

Panama, meanwhile, said it would request information from the United States about alleged Odebrecht bribes paid in Panama to secure contracts, its foreign ministry said.

Shattered record

The previous record bribery settlement was $1.6 billion for German engineering group Siemens in 2008. It settled charges of systematically using bribes and slush funds to land public works contracts around the world.

Margarida Gutierrez, an economist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP that this settlement, Odebrecht's newest move to come clean, would open the door for its return to the market.

"Right now they are unable to participate in any bids in Brazil or probably out of Brazil," she said. "Now they can start again, and try to clear their name. They will succeed but it will be hard."

The US Justice Department will conduct an "inability to pay analysis" by March 31 to determine the final amount that Odebrecht must come up with. Sentencing has been scheduled for April 17.

Under the plea agreement, Brazil will receive 80 percent of Odebrecht's fines, while the United States and Switzerland will garner 10 percent each.

Braskem, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange through American Depositary Receipts (ADR), saw its shares soar after the deal was announced, closing up four percent.

It will pay a criminal fine of $632 million, and another $325 million penalty to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the Braskem deal, Brazil will receive 70 percent of the fines, while US and Swiss authorities receive 15 percent. Sentencing for the firm has not yet been scheduled.

Brazil's Odebrecht, Braskem pay record fine in bribery case https://t.co/Wn8k2rgyX2 pic.twitter.com/RM9Shs8gzG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 22, 2016

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