Operation Car Wash

Operation Car Wash was a massive anti-corruption investigation in Brazil. It began in March 2014 as a small probe into money laundering. Investigators were looking at a car wash in Brasília. This small case quickly uncovered a huge corruption scheme. It involved the Brazilian federal government and many state-owned enterprises. An enterprise is a company owned or controlled by the government. This investigation changed how people viewed politics and business in Brazil.

The corruption worked through a system of bribes and kickbacks. Political appointees at state companies extorted money from private suppliers. These suppliers were companies that sold goods or services to the government. Part of this money went to political parties to fund campaigns illegally. This is sometimes called "caixa dois," or second-account funding. Other money was kept for the personal gain of officials. The largest amounts of these bribes were found at Petrobras. Petrobras is a massive state-owned oil giant.

In Petrobras, directors negotiated illegal kickbacks with contractors. These kickbacks ranged from 1% to 5% of the money being paid out. Because this happened so much at the oil company, people called it "big oil." Contractors formed a cartel to keep the system running. A cartel is a group of companies that work together to control a market. Large engineering firms like Odebrecht and Grupo OAS were part of this. They shared government contracts among themselves. They also colluded, or worked secretly together, with corrupt politicians.

This cartel worked on many massive public projects. They influenced contracts for football stadiums built for the 2014 World Cup. They also worked on the Angra 3 nuclear power plant. Other projects included the Belo Monte dam and several large railways. The corruption reached far beyond Brazil's borders. Investigators cooperated with authorities in 61 different countries. These included Switzerland, the United States, and Peru. The company Odebrecht even admitted to bribing officials in twelve different nations.

Prosecutors used a specific legal tool called rewarded collaboration. This is a type of plea bargain. In a plea bargain, a defendant agrees to help the investigation. In return, they receive a reduced sentence for their crimes. This method helped investigators identify many criminal rings. For example, Marcelo Odebrecht was sentenced to 19 years in prison. His cooperation helped reveal the wider scheme. By 2017, nearly 300 people had been accused of crimes. The scale was so large that electronic monitoring bracelets rose from 10,000 to 24,000.

The investigation faced many legal and political challenges. Judge Sergio Moro and prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol led much of the work. However, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) often reviewed their decisions. In 2019, a leak known as "Vaza Jato" changed public opinion. A hacker named Walter Delgatti Neto leaked private Telegram messages. These messages suggested that Judge Moro and the prosecutors coordinated too closely. Critics claimed they worked together to influence the 2018 election. Moro and Dallagnol denied any wrongdoing or illegal conduct.

Many high-ranking leaders were implicated in the probe. This included former presidents like Collor, Temer, and Lula. Eduardo Cunha, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, was convicted of taking $40 million in bribes. The scandal also hurt Petrobras financially. The company reported $2.1 billion in bribes and huge losses due to graft. This forced the company to sell $13.7 billion in assets. Over time, the investigation's reputation declined. Some judges called the investigators' methods dishonorable. The task force was officially disbanded on February 1, 2021.