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Brazilian police investigate corruption surrounding World Cup stadium

Xinhua, August 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Brazilian police opened an investigation into possible cases of corruption on Friday involving the Arena Pernambuco stadium which was one of the 12 locations for last year's World Cup.

Police are looking into the tendering process and the execution of the stadium's construction, located in the city of Recife, northeast Brazil.

The police have "well-founded suspicions" that fraud was committed during the tendering process which was won by construction company Odebrecht, Federal Police Commisioner Felipe Barros said during a news conference.

The final cost of the stadium was 700 million reais (200 million U.S. dollars), 55 percent over budget.

"Fraud in the international competition has already been confirmed," said Barros adding that Odebrecht was awarded the stadium project one year before it was open to bidders.

When the call for tender came out, the competitors only had 45 days to elaborate their proposal, said Barros.

The investigation comes at a time when Odebrecht, one of Brazil and Latin America's main construction companies, is accused of being involved with a network, made up of a group of companies, that diverts money with over-billed construction works from state oil company Petrobas.

Marcelo Odebrecht, the president of the construction company, has been behind bars since mid-June as he is accused of using bribes to secure contracts with the petrol company.

On Friday, local police also visited six of Odebrecht's offices in the state of Pernambuco, where the stadium is located. Endi