Brazilian builder Odebrecht bribe in billions in LatAm, Africa

Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht has admitted to paying more than a billion U.S. dollars in bribes across much of Latin America and parts of Africa, local media reported Thursday.

"Odebrecht and its petrochemical subsidiary Braskem admitted to having paid 1 billion in bribes to government officials, their agents, and political parties in 12 countries," Agencia Brasil (EBC) news agency said.

The confession was made as part of a plea bargain deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, which released the documents Wednesday, showing Odebrecht paid 788 million dollars in kickbacks starting in 2001, and Braskem paid 250 million dollars from 2014 to 2016.

The companies have "agreed to pay 3.5 billion dollars in global fines to resolve what has been regarded as the history's biggest foreign bribery scheme," the EBC said.

Citing the Justice Department, the agency said the company had set up a "a department of bribery" to dole out bribes and kickbacks for lucrative contracts in Brazil, Angola, Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Mozambique, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Venezuela immediately launched investigations into the matter. Endi