Fernando Cavendish

Brazilian civil engineer and businessman, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Delta Construções S.A. (a major road building company) since December 1990. Previously, while CEO of Delta, he branched the company into urban infrastructure works (state and federal highways), stadiums and housing projects. Under his management, Delta's net worth grew more than 20-fold from R$ 50 million in 2001 to R$ 1.1 billion in 2011. In 2004, the governor of Paraná, Roberto Requião, launched an investigation of a possible cartel of contractors, which allegedly had the intention of forcing the increase of prices in public works biddings. On 28 June 2005, the Paraná Department of Public Security launched the "Great Contract" operation to execute arrest warrants against 27 contractors and search and seize 44 construction company addresses. Fernando Cavendish was among the businessmen named on an arrest warrant but he was not detained because he was not at his address in Rio de Janeiro, however Delta headquarters was searched by police. In June 2012, the Chief Justice of the Federal Comptroller General (CGU), Jorge Hage, declared the construction company Delta inidônea, which prevents the company from signing contracts with the federal public administration. The ban on public works takes into account irregularities pointed out by Operation Double Hand of the Federal Police, which investigated fraud in the execution of contracts for the construction of road works of the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) in Ceará. In May 2013, the businessman was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment for misappropriation of funds for the decontamination of Araruama Lagoon, in the Lakes Region of Rio de Janeiro. Link to Wikipedia biography (Portuguese)