President Rafael Correa, in a statement, expressed his position on the international scandal unleashed by the investigation of the US justice system into the contracts of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
According to documents from that process, officials from at least nine countries would have received millionaires bribes; Ecuador is cited with kickbacks of $ 33.5 million between 2007 and 2016.
In the government’s statement, it is underlined that the company has worked in the country since the 1980s and that several governments have contracted their services.
In addition, it is recalled that Correa expelled Odebrecht by executive decree in September 2008 and that the construction company returned to the country in July 2010, “after it accepted all the conditions demanded by the National Government.”
Since its return, Odebrecht has built the Daule-Vinces transfer, the Mandariacu hydroelectric plant, the preparation of the land for the Pacific Refinery, among other works.
“In all these works, Odebrecht won bids,” the government stated.
At the end of the statement, it clarifies it will not accept “the versions of the directors of a company that has pleaded guilty to acts of corruption” and, rather, it asks the Department of Justice to cooperate to extradite several Ecuadorians that live in the United States and are fugitives from justice.
