BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian government may increase the corruption fine that engineering conglomerate Odebrecht agreed to pay in a multi-billion dollar leniency deal signed last year, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported on Sunday.
Odebrecht, once Latin America’s biggest builder, struck a deal with Brazil, the United States and Switzerland in December designed to allow the company to continue its operations so that it can pay off a record $ 3.5 billion fine.
However, the country’s attorney general’s office, known as AGU, said it is evaluating the deal and may raise the $ 2.4 billion fine owed to Brazil, Folha de S.Paulo reported citing a statement from the office.
An email to the attorney general’s office seeking comment was not immediately answered.
Calls to an Odebrecht spokesman in São Paulo seeking comment on the report were not immediately answered.
Odebrecht [ODBES.UL] is at the centre of the country’s biggest ever corruption case that has triggered investigations into dozens of senior lawmakers and a third of President Michel Temer’s cabinet.
(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
