Massive graft probe in Brazil powers electronic bracelets
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s mega-corruption scandal that has ensnared much of its political and economic elite has one sector of its struggling economy booming: the sale of electronic monitoring bracelets.
Wealthy businessmen or politicians caught up in the massive “Car Wash” investigation are often serving time at home, either by reaching plea bargains or appealing. That has made the use of bracelets much more common, not only by requiring them for high-profile convicts but by raising awareness about them with judges who are increasingly using them in other cases to ease dangerous overcrowding in Brazil’s prisons.
“Thanks to the investigation, there are now more judges who know of the bracelets and require them in their decisions,” said Marcelo Ribeiro de Almeida, director of Sao Paulo-based Synergy, one of the leading bracelet companies. “Our overcrowded and ineffective prison system has created that opportunity for business.”
Launched in March 2014, the “Car Wash” probe has brought down scores of the country’s elite. Top executives at state oil company Petrobras and construction companies like Odebrecht formed a cartel that would decide on the granting of inflated contracts, and which politicians and other officials would receive kickbacks. Over the course of a decade, more than $3 billion in bribes were doled out, according to authorities.