Antitrust law, Anti-corruption law and lenience agreement: the Odebrecht case

Emerson Ademir Borges de Oliveira, Julienne de Melo Kill Aguirre

Keywords

Leniency Agreement; Leniency program; CADE Law; Anticorruption Law; Odebrecht case.

Abstract

The Brazilian Competition Defense System, built by Law 12,529 / 2011, received, in 2013, an important contribution from the Anti-Corruption Law (Law 12,846). In one of the aspects in common, the laws stipulate the Leniency Program or Agreement, aimed at recognizing the economic infraction and the corruptive business practice, facilitating the investigation of infractions, as well as any co-authors, in exchange for benefits regarding the punitive aspects. This essay intends, at first, to understand the origin and historical evolution of “leniency” in Brazil, differentiating the institutes foreseen in the CADE Law and in the Anticorruption Law. And, in a second step, to outline an analysis of the leniency agreement entered into by Odebrecht due to practices found in the scope of Operation Lava Jato. The investigation has a deductive method, starting from the analysis of legal institutes towards a practical case, rising from bibliographic analysis and the terms of the agreement in question.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. The “leniency agreement”
3. Odebrecht and the Leniency Agreements
4. Conclusion
Bibliography