The spreading 'Operation Car Wash' money-laundering investigation begun by Brazilian magistrates has reached the shores of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

It was in December that Odebrecht SA, a global construction conglomerate based in Brazil, and Braskem SA, a Brazilian petrochemical company, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a combined total penalty of at least $3½ billion to resolve charges with various authorities in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland arising out of their schemes to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to government officials around the world.

The US Department of Justice says that in or about and between 2001 and 2004, Odebrecht made and caused to be made more than $92 million in corrupt payments to government officials and intermediaries working on their behalf in the Dominican Republic. Odebrecht realised benefits of more than $163 million as a result of these corrupt payments. It was in December, with the conclusion of the DoJ's action, that the attorney general of the Dominican Republic began his own investigation. The authorities arrested the following 'politically exposed persons,' among others.

• Temistocles Montas, the trade minister who has had to resign.
• Victor Diaz Rua, once the public works minister.
• Andres Bautista, the head of the Modern Revolutionary Party or PRM.

Reuters reports that officials are asking the republic's congress to strip Congressman Alfredo Pacheco and Senators Tommy Galan and Julio Valentin of their immunity from prosecution while in office. For other information on the Odebrecht case, see here.