Construction companies can not escape suspicion

Local businessmen were placed on victims, in contrast to Odebrecht, who badumed his faults

It was in August 2018 and this columnist called the lawyer of a businessman arrested at
the cause of notebooks. The consultation was simple: what was the place of detention of his client. "
The Dangerous Drugs Division"replied the lawyer specialized in criminal law. Where is it? ", he was questioned." No idea. I have never had a prisoner client. "

The anecdote illustrates the originality of a cause that has confronted 134 front-line contractors to justice for the first time in its history. The
Homeland Contractor walked up to
Commodore Py.

But not only has the judicial process not been published, but many are out of place. One of them, the government. For the first time, many of the country's largest companies, many of which had public works contracts or concessions underway, acknowledged that they were doing business with the state and had returned part of it to officials.

Finally, great timemakers, this steady distribution of tap dancing in dozens of acts of Casa Rosada from another era calculated their lyrics. They manage their truths and recognize only "payments for the campaign". The memory of many of them is so fragile that they could not even remember whether they were paying in dollars or pesos.

The most serious problem for entrepreneurs is not to recognize the payment of coima, but to find themselves in a swamp of indefinitions that leaves them abandoned. Nobody finances them. At least the government is at least trying to build a bridge to get out of this quagmire. But there has been no case, no one has led the process and both share the territory of the indefinite.

The law on corporate criminal responsibility has modernized the Argentine legal framework for events after March 2018. But this rule does not apply to the case of the notebooks because the previous facts are the object of the law. investigation. "This has created an unexpected but gigantic void for the economy, as the scandal has affected more than 130 companies, and investigations into the owners and managers of these companies not only tarnish their reputation, but seriously complicate their funding." It is difficult to calculate the economic risks they will face once these processes are over, "says Guillermo Jorge, an anti-corruption lawyer, and his study partner Bruchou, Fernández Marero & Lombardi.

Last year, meetings were held to define a way for businesses to become financially available again. It was not even necessary to be original, it was enough to copy well what is done elsewhere. "The usual thing in the world is that businesses recognize mistakes, pay for repairs, and create or improve their control systems to make sure crimes do not happen again," says the professor at the University. from New York.

But Argentina has its peculiarities. Only one to represent graphically. This way of recognizing mistakes, paying fines, ending corrupt management and improving internal transparency was followed by Odebrecht, the largest Brazilian company. But this path needs a budget: the company and its leaders must be held responsible.

Argentine construction contractors are far from this possibility. They define themselves as victims of a system and shout that they had no other possibility.

They do not go bad. All maintain their contracts with the state, with the exception of only one: Odebrecht, who has been terminated or forced to sell their most important projects. Local builders have chosen another path: they have placed themselves on victims and are already considering regretting being repented. They must also make arrangements to convince the judge that often their phones were alone and abandoned in places where officials went to fetch the coima.