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Business Matters: Brazil's Odebrecht Fined $2.6bn For Bribery

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Odebrecht edited.jpg

22/12/2016 GMT

Brazil's Odebrecht Fined $2.6bn For Bribery

BBC World Service - Business Matters, Brazil's Odebrecht Fined $2.6bn For Bribery

Brazil's biggest construction firm has admitted to bribing officials to secure contracts.

Brazil's biggest construction firm, Odebrecht, has admitted bribing officials to secure contracts.

It's the biggest settlement of bribery charges in history; the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, along with the petrochemical firm Braskem, has agreed to pay $3.5bn to Swiss, Brazilian and US authorities. They have pleaded guilty to spending $788m on bribing officials and politicians to secure business contracts. We hear from Brad Brooks, Reuters' chief correspondent in Sao Paulo    

The uncertainty following this month's presidential election in The Gambia has left an economic crisis brewing. The tourism industry is a mainstay of the Gambian economy - and reports suggest it's in serious trouble amid the upheavals. The BBC's Umaru Fofana, who is the only foreign journalist in the country, tells us more. 

Japan's police are planning a New Year crack down on what are known as high-school girl businesses. They offer dates or other services with teenage girls wearing school uniforms or bathing suits, but are thought to be in many cases child prostitution rings.  From Tokyo we hear from freelance journalist Chie Kobayashi .

Are you a Facebook 'lurker', and is that causing you to feel envious of other peoples' lives?   

And we're joined throughout the programme by Peter Morici, Professor of International Business at the University of Maryland , in Washington, and in our London studio is David Kuo of the Motley Fool.

Photo description: Brazilian construction company Odebrecht pled guilty to paying hundreds of millions to bribe government officials in countries on three continents

Photo credit: AFP/YASUYOSHI CHIBA

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