RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazil’s attorney general is investigating allegations that bribes were paid to a powerful lawmaker to help secure contracts for the building of venues and other works for next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In documents obtained by The Associated Press, Attorney General Rodrigo Janot accuses Eduardo Cunha, speaker of the lower house in Brazil’s two-chamber legislature, of receiving 1.9 million Brazilian reals ($475,000) from the construction company OAS to craft legislation favorable for the company.
Cunha has called the allegations “ridiculous” in comments to local media, while OAS refused to comment.
The investigation is the first linking corruption to the billions being spent on Olympic building projects.
OAS is involved with building the BMX, mountain bike and canoeing venues at Deodoro in northern Rio, the second-largest cluster of Olympic venues.