| 
			
			 Carlos Lima said the probe into corruption on projects for the 
			Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August was not limited to Porto 
			Maravilha, or the "Marvelous Port", a regeneration of the city's 
			waterfront that includes five high-rises bearing the name of U.S. 
			property mogul and presidential candidate Donald Trump. 
 "There are more," Lima said in an interview in his office in the 
			southern city of Curitiba on Monday. "There are leniency agreements 
			underway that talk about this, but until they are finalized we will 
			not know how many (projects) for sure."
 
 Lima is a lead prosecutor on a task force that discovered a cartel 
			of engineering firms siphoning kickbacks from state oil firm 
			Petrobras <PETR4.SA> to political parties, a scandal fuelling a 
			crisis that could force President Dilma Rousseff from power.
 
 His comments were the clearest indication yet that the Olympics has 
			become a focus of the two-year-old investigation.
 
			
			 The corruption allegations are not expected to hinder work on 
			infrastructure for the Games, which is nearly finished, but they do 
			further cloud an event set to start in the middle of Brazil's worst 
			political and economic crises in decades.
 The lower house of Brazil's Congress, many of whose members are 
			themselves under investigation for corruption, voted on Sunday to 
			impeach Rousseff on charges she manipulated budget accounts.
 
 If the Senate agrees to put her on trial, as seems likely, Rousseff 
			will be suspended for up to six months and would be unlikely to 
			return to power.
 
 Five engineering firms are building most of the 39 billion reais 
			($11 billion) worth of venues and infrastructure needed for the 
			Olympics, the first to be held in South America. All five are under 
			investigation for price fixing at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as 
			Petrobras is formally known.
 
 Latin America's largest engineering conglomerate, Odebrecht SA 
			[ODBES.UL], which is at the center of the Petrobras scandal, is 
			involved in over half of all Olympic projects by value, according to 
			contracts reviewed by Reuters.
 
 Court files made public last month showed police uncovered documents 
			from Odebrecht executives referencing 1 million reais in suspected 
			bribes connected to the Porto Maravilha project and other kickbacks 
			allegedly linked to a Rio metro line.
 
			 More than 20 corporate developments are planned to revitalize Rio in 
			the downtown Porto Maravilha area - the main legacy project of the 
			Games - including hotels and the five Trump towers.
 They were announced in 2012 as the largest corporate development in 
			any major emerging nation. Trump only sold naming rights and offered 
			consulting on the high-rise project.
 
 Lima said the investigation of Porto Maravilha, like other Olympic 
			projects, was now under the jurisdiction of prosecutors in Brasilia.
 
 That is because they involve potential kickbacks to sitting 
			politicians, who under Brazilian law can only be judged by the 
			Brasilia-based Supreme Court rather than Federal Judge Sergio Moro 
			in Curitiba.
 
 The change in jurisdiction will likely slow the investigation.
 
 The Supreme Court has a backlog of some 50 politicians to 
			investigate on charges that they received bribes, though Rousseff is 
			not among them.
 
 [to top of second column]
 | 
            
			 
			"We collaborate, we work together, but the pace of the 13th district 
			is one thing, the Supreme Court is another," said Lima.
 The prosecutor's office in Brasilia declined to comment.
 
 POLITICIANS, WORLD CUP, OLYMPICS
 
 Moro and the Curitiba-based prosecutors and police are famous across 
			Brazil for swiftly and aggressively handling its largest-ever 
			corruption probe. Their investigation has ensnared dozens of top 
			businessmen and was cited by many lawmakers who voted in favor of 
			Rousseff being impeached.
 
 Plea bargains and leniency deals, relatively new legal tools in 
			Brazil, have been key to cracking the case and helping investigators 
			find hard evidence. However, defense lawyers and some independent 
			analysts have criticized the use of lengthy pre-trial detentions of 
			dozens of suspects.
 
 Corruption allegations are now spreading to stadiums built for the 
			2014 World Cup and the Olympics, two events that were meant to 
			showcase Brazil's rise as a modern global economic power.
 
 On March 22, the same day prosecutors publicly accused Odebrecht of 
			graft involving World Cup stadiums and Porto Maravilha, the company 
			said it would seek to collaborate with the investigation and aim for 
			a leniency agreement and plea deals for its executives.
 
			
			 
			The other four companies involved in much of the rest of the Olympic 
			work are OAS SA [OAS.UL], Andrade Gutierrez SA, Queiroz Galvao SA, 
			and Carioca Christiani Nielsen Engenharia SA.
 Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez and Queiroz Galvao declined to comment. 
			The other companies did not respond to requests for comment. Lima 
			did not specify which company or companies had mentioned Olympic 
			projects in testimony.
 
 The city of Rio de Janeiro is overseeing the bulk of the Olympic 
			construction projects, though a few are financed by the federal or 
			state government and Rio 2016, the local organizing committee, 
			handles some non-permanent structures like seating.
 
 Rio's city government said the contracts were mostly funded with 
			private resources and that all bids were overseen by regulators. Rio 
			2016 referred Reuters to City Hall.
 
 The International Olympic Committee did not respond to request for 
			comment.
 
 (Additional reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Daniel Flynn)
 
			[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights 
			reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, 
			broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
			
			
			 |