LAUSR

Engineers and other construction professionals need to take the lead to clarify the facts when a possible fraud in public infrastructure procurement is identified. A robust approach for producing scientific evidence to determine the presence of collusive bidding where questionable confessions need to be proven in court is presented. The concepts of game theory are used to demonstrate that economic principles support the confessions of senior executives from a cartel of 16 large construction companies. Relying on the confessions and defendants’ statements from the Brazilian Federal Police's anti-corruption investigation referred to as “Operation Car Wash,” the article demonstrates that the behavior of criminals was conscious and intentional rather than incidental, proving the mens rea necessary to establish the white-collar crime of collusion.