Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-cmjwd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-22T03:06:40.546Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 12 - Project Misbehavior in Infrastructure Projects

Mega-Projects for Mega-Corruption

from Part II - Deviating from Plans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  aN Invalid Date NaN

Lavagnon A. Ika
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Jeffrey K. Pinto
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Get access

Summary

This chapter employs a case study approach to explore two high-profile mega-projects, chosen for their global visibility and substantial negative impacts on Brazil’s economy and society. Initially heralded as catalysts for economic prosperity and national pride, these projects were later uncovered by police investigations to be deeply rooted in corruption. Analysis of public documents reveals that corruption was embedded from the inception of these mega-projects, with decisions driven by collusive, deliberate, and criminal intentions rather than mere ignorance. Empirical research on corruption and collusion in project management is scarce due to the clandestine nature of these activities and the challenges in data collection. Existing studies frequently rely on conceptual analyses rather than empirical evidence. The chapter introduces the concept of ‘mega-projects for mega-corruption’ to illustrate the extensive immorality involved and the role of the Malevolent Hand in facilitating corruption through strategic misrepresentation. By examining two cases involving oil refineries and soccer stadiums, the chapter underscores the necessity of robust mechanisms to combat corruption in project management. It aims to enhance practitioners’ awareness and emphasizes the need for empirical research and effective policies, such as establishing independent advisory bodies and implementing whistleblowing policies, to ensure accountability and protect public interests.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alm, J., Solberg, H., Storm, R., and Jakobsen, T. (2014). Hosting major sports events: The challenge of taming white elephants. Leisure Studies, 35(1), 119.Google Scholar
Anheier, H. K. (2016). Of Hiding Hands and other ways of coping with uncertainty: A commentary. Social Research International Quarterly, 83(4), 10051010.10.1353/sor.2016.0064CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boas, T. C., Hidalgo, F. D., and Richardson, N. P. (2014). The spoils of victory: Campaign donations and government contracts in Brazil. The Journal of Politics, 76(2), 415429.Google Scholar
Boudreaux, C. J., Karahan, G., and Coats, M. (2016). Bend it like FIFA: Corruption on and off the pitch. Managerial Finance, 42(9), 866878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bray, E. (2011). The curse of good hospitality: Why developing countries shouldn’t host international sporting events. The SAIS Review of International Affairs, 31(1), 99102.10.1353/sais.2011.0006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasil (2014). Caracterização e dimensionamento do turismo internacional no Brasil (2010–2014) – Relatório Descritivo. Brasília: Ministério do Turismo. www.dadosefatos.turismo.gov.br/2016-02-04-11-54-03/demanda-tur%C3%ADstica-internacional/item/download/702_7dd6fcbac8dbb5ef39348da6bdd2147a.html.Google Scholar
Brasil (2015). Histórico da Conduta da Construções e Comércio Camargo Corrêa S.A.. Brasília: Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE). https://sei.cade.gov.br/sei/modulos/pesquisa/md_pesq_documento_consulta_externa.php?DZ2uWeaYicbuRZEFhBt-n3BfPLlu9u7akQAh8mpB9yNujxYamZFUzrxMQKDi2WzTGgANhDb2Plzp_4Qt5mIXyCwbuZmhwM5jGSyd4trcY-GRO15Hx_tXH9nplvvhlvnZ.Google Scholar
Brasil (2017b). Relatório Final da Operação Panatenaico. Brasília: Polícia Federal. https://static.poder360.com.br/2017/08/PANA.pdf.Google Scholar
Brasil (2018a). Acórdão nº 1839/2018. Plenário. Relator: Ministro José Múcio Monteiro. Sessão de 08/08/2018. Brasília: Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU). https://pesquisa.apps.tcu.gov.br/#/redireciona/acordao-completo/%22ACORDAO-COMPLETO-2303835%22.Google Scholar
Brasil (2018b). Denúncia relativa ao Inquérito Policial nº 1095/2016 (autos nº 7161-85.2017.4.01.3400). Brasília: Ministério Público Federal (MPF). www.mpf.mp.br/df/sala-de-imprensa/docs/denuncia-nucleo-politico-arruda.Google Scholar
Brasil (2020). Acórdão nº 2750/2020. Plenário. Relator: Ministro Benjamin Zymler. Sessão de 14/10/2020. Brasília: Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU). https://pesquisa.apps.tcu.gov.br/#/redireciona/acordao-completo/%22ACORDAO-COMPLETO-2360631%22.Google Scholar
Brasil (2021). Acórdão nº 784/2021. Plenário. Relator: Ministro Vital do Rêgo. Sessão de 07/04/2021. Brasília: Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU). https://pesquisa.apps.tcu.gov.br/#/redireciona/acordao-completo/%22ACORDAO-COMPLETO-2394204%22.Google Scholar
Brun, E. E., and Gomez, C. (2022). Politics and geopolitics in staging the FIFA World Cup: What is at stake for the hosting nations? (pp. 4760). In Chadwick, S., Widdop, P., Anagnostopoulos, C., and Parnell, D. (eds.). The business of the FIFA World Cup. Routledge.10.4324/9781003121794-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caiden, G. (2001). Corruption and governance (pp. 1538). In Caiden, G., Dwivedi, O., and Jabbra, J. G., (eds.). Where corruption lives. Kurmarian Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campos, N., Engel, E., Fischer, R. D., and Galetovic, A. (2021). The ways of corruption in infrastructure: Lessons from the Odebrecht case. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35(2), 171190.10.1257/jep.35.2.171CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chade, J. (2014). A Copa como ela é: A história de dez anos de preparação para a Copa de 2014. Companhia das Letras.Google Scholar
Dallagnol, D. (2017). A luta contra a corrupção. Primeira Pessoa.Google Scholar
Dantas, M. (2019). Arena da Amazônia atinge custo mensal de R$ 1 milhão, o maior de sua história. https://ge.globo.com/am/futebol/noticia/arena-da-amazonia-atinge-custo-mensal-de-r-1-milhao-por-mes-o-maior-de-sua-historia.ghtml.Google Scholar
De Graaf, G. (2007). Causes of corruption: Towards a contextual theory of corruption. Public Administration Quarterly, 31(1/2), 3986.Google Scholar
Distrito Federal (2016). Informação nº 22/16 – NFO. Brasília: TCDF, Núcleo de Fiscalização de Obras e Serviços de Engenharia. https://etcdf.tc.df.gov.br/?a=documento&f=downloadPDF&iddocumento=1559116.Google Scholar
Distrito Federal (2017a). Auditoria de Regularidade – Relatório Final. Estádio Nacional de Brasília – 3ª Etapa. Brasília: TCDF, Núcleo de Fiscalização de Obras e Serviços de Engenharia. https://etcdf.tc.df.gov.br/?a=documento&f=downloadPDF&iddocumento=1684186.Google Scholar
Distrito Federal (2017b). Auditoria de Regularidade – Relatório Final. Execução dos serviços de reforma e ampliação do Estádio Nacional de Brasília – Mané Garrincha (4ª Etapa da Fiscalização) (Processo nº 29.565/2013). Brasília: TCDF, Núcleo de Fiscalização de Obras e Serviços de Engenharia. https://etcdf.tc.df.gov.br/?a=documento&f=downloadPDF&iddocumento=1674583.Google Scholar
D’Souza, E. (2009). Collusion in government and corruption. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 21(1), 1733.10.1177/02601079X09002100103CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durand, F. (2019). Odebrecht: La empresa que capturaba gobiernos. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú; Oxfam.Google Scholar
Edelhertz, H. (1970). Nature, impact and prosecution of white-collar crime. National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.Google Scholar
Flyvbjerg, B. (2018). The fallacy of beneficial ignorance: A test of Hirschman’s hiding hand. World Development, 84, 176189.10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.03.012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottschalk, P. (2020). Convenience dynamics and white-collar crime. Routledge.10.4324/9781003089155CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Rodríguez, M. J., Rodríguez-Montequín, V., Ballesteros-Pérez, P., Love, P. E. D., and Signor, R. (2022). Collusion detection in public procurement auctions with machine learning. Automation in Construction, 133, 104047.10.1016/j.autcon.2021.104047CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, A. O. (1967). Development projects observed. The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Ika, L. A., Love, P. E. D., and Pinto, J. K. (2022). Moving beyond the Planning Fallacy: The emergence of a new principle of project behaviour. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 69(6), 33103325 10.1109/TEM.2020.3040526CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, L. R., and Euske, K. J. (1991). Strategic misrepresentation in budgeting. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 1, 437460.Google Scholar
Ledsom, M. (2007). FIFA ends World Cup rotation policy. www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-FIFA-rotation-idUKL2941735420071029.Google Scholar
Lehtinen, J., Locatelli, G., Sainati, T., Artto, K., and Evans, B. (2022). The grand challenge: Effective anti-corruption measures in projects. International Journal of Project Management, 40(4), 347361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locatelli, G., Mariani, G., Sainati, T., and Greco, M. (2017). Corruption in public projects and megaprojects: There is an elephant in the room! International Journal of Project Management, 35(1), 252268.10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.09.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Love, P. E. D., and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D. (2018). De-bunking fake news in a post-truth era: The plausible untruths of cost underestimation in transport infrastructure projects. Transportation Research A: Policy and Practice, 113, 337368.Google Scholar
Mitra, A. (2015). An ethical analysis of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Law and Business Review of the Americas, 21(1), 319.Google Scholar
Moro, S. F. (2018). Preventing systemic corruption in Brazil. Daedalus, 147(3), 157168.10.1162/daed_a_00508CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moro, S. F. (2021). Contra o sistema da corrupção. Primeira Pessoa.Google Scholar
Netto, V. (2016). Lava Jato: O juiz Sergio Moro e os bastidores da operação que abalou o Brasil. Primeira Pessoa.Google Scholar
Nobre, E. A. C. (2017). The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil: Hosting a sport mega-event in a BRIC Context (pp. 123). In Nobre, E. A. C. (ed.). Sports mega-events and urban legacies: The 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2010). Policy Roundtables: Collusion and Corruption in Public Procurement. www.oecd.org/competition/cartels/46235884.pdf.Google Scholar
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2022). Dataset: Real Minimum Wages. https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=RMW.Google Scholar
Petrobras (2014). Petróleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras – Consolidated Financial Statements as of December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012 with Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. www.investidorpetrobras.com.br/en/investor-services/download-center/.Google Scholar
Pontes, J., and Anselmo, M. (2022). Operation Car Wash: Brazil’s institutionalized crime and the inside story of the biggest corruption scandal in history. Bloomsbury Academic.10.5040/9781350265646CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, B., and Cardoso, F. (2015). “There will not be a World Cup”: The Kratophanous power of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Consumer Culture Theory, 17(1), 367399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Signor, R., Love, P. E. D., Olatunji, O., Vallim, J. J. C. B., and Raupp, A. B. (2017). Collusive bidding in Brazilian infrastructure projects. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Forensic Engineering, 170(3), 113123.Google Scholar
Signor, R., Love, P. E. D., Vallim, J. J. C. B., Raupp, A. B., and Olatunji, O. (2019). It is not collusion unless you get caught: The case of “Operation Car Wash” and unearthing of a cartel. Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, 7(2), 177202.10.1093/jaenfo/jnz009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Signor, R, Love, P. E. D., Belarmino, A. T. N., and Olatunji, O. (2020). Detection of collusive tenders in infrastructure projects: Learning from operation car wash. ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 146(1), 05019015.10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001737CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Signor, R., Love, P. E. D., and Ika, L. A. (2022). White collar crime: Unearthing collusion in the procurement of infrastructure projects. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 69(5), 19321943.10.1109/TEM.2020.2994636CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Signor, R., Ballesteros-Pérez, P., and Love, P. E. D. (2023). Collusion detection in infrastructure procurement: A modified order statistic method for uncapped Auctions. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 70(2), 464477.10.1109/TEM.2021.3049129CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Football Association (2022). The History of the FA. www.thefa.com/about-football-association/what-we-do/history.Google Scholar
Transparency International (2022). What is corruption? www.transparency.org/en/what-is-corruption.Google Scholar
US Department of Justice (2015). Sixteen additional FIFA officials indicted for racketeering conspiracy and corruption. Press Release (Updated December 7, 2015). www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/sixteen-additional-fifa-officials-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and-corruption.Google Scholar
US Department of Justice (2016). Odebrecht and Braskem plead guilty and agree to pay at least $3.5 billion in global penalties to resolve largest foreign bribery case in history. Press Release Number: 16-1515 (Updated October 3, 2017). www.justice.gov/opa/pr/odebrecht-and-braskem-plead-guilty-and-agree-pay-least-35-billion-global-penalties-resolve.Google Scholar
US Department of Justice (2018). Non-prosecution agreement and statement of facts. www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1096706/download.Google Scholar
Vallim, J. J. C. B. (2018). Engenharia forense: Metodologias aplicadas na Operação Lava-Jato. Juruá.Google Scholar
Yuhui, S. (2021). El cáncer de la corrupción en Latinoamérica: El caso Odebrecht. Gestión y política pública, 30(3), 237265.10.29265/gypp.v30i3.974CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.0 A

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

The PDF of this book conforms to version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring core accessibility principles are addressed and meets the basic (A) level of WCAG compliance, addressing essential accessibility barriers.

Content Navigation

Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.

Reading Order & Textual Equivalents

Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visualised data also available as non-graphical data
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.

Visual Accessibility

Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×