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Bloomberg

The Rio de Janeiro Olympic games in 2016 will not be affected by a corruption scandal implicating some of Brazil’s biggest construction companies and the country’s state-controlled oil producer, according to the city’s mayor.

Eduardo Paes, who was attending a ceremony to unveil the event’s mascots, said there were “no concerns” over construction contracts related to the $20 billion games even though some of the companies involved are the same ones being investigated for alleged bribery involving contracts.

“There are no suspicions concerning the contracts of the Olympics,” Paes told Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the event. The agreements are all audited “in a good way,” he added.

Among the companies caught up in a bribery investigation that has roiled the country’s political and economic elite is Odebrecht SA. The company got some of the biggest contracts related to this year’s soccer World Cup and is helping build the Olympic Village and Olympic Park developments among other games- related projects. Queiroz Galvao SA and OAS SA, two other companies under investigation, are also involved in building Olympics infrastructure.

“The Olympics works are on schedule,” Odebrecht said in a statement.

Petrobras has had two former directors arrested since March for alleged involvement in a multibillion-dollar laundering and kickback case dubbed Car Wash. Contractors allegedly bribed officials and colluded to win contracts, according to statements from investigators in Curitiba, where the case is before a judge.

’Without Corruption’

In January, Rio 2016’s chief executive officer, Sidney Levy, responsible for the 7 billion-reais ($2.8 billion) organizing budget, said the games were an opportunity to show Brazil could carry out a major project “without corruption.”

“The time has come for the Brazilian people to understand and to believe that there are people in Brazil skilled enough to raise and spend 7 billion reais in a transparent way,” Levy said in an interview at Rio 2016’s headquarters shortly after announcing the operating budget.

“They think it’s all mixed up with friends of him, friends of so-and-so,” he said. “The money behind the table, these guys are all going to be rich at the end. They really think that. So we’re here to prove the opposite.”