Brazilian police are investigating $10 billion worth of construction contracts for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,聽between聽state-run oil company Petrobras and various engineering firms, . Igor Romario, a federal police chief in Brazil, said that the firms 鈥渧ery probably鈥 broke price fixing and bribery laws in their contracts to build Olympic venues.
These revelations are a part of a bigger, two-year聽investigation dubbed 鈥淥peration Car Wash鈥 by Brazilian police into corruption at Petrobras, which has resulted in several high profile arrests, including those of a senator and the chief executive of the largest investment bank in Brazil, .
“In every situation where there has been an investigation into contracts with these companies, this model of corruption was repeated,” Romario told Reuters. “It's possible that it was repeated in the projects for the 2016 Olympics.” He noted there is currently no evidence pointing to corruption or bribery in the Olympic bidding process.
The Rio Olympics begin on August 5, 2016.