Court files reveal new bribes from Odebrecht in Ecuador in 2006 and 2011 for more than $ 13.6 million

Records of bribery payments in 2006 and 2011 for works carried out in Ecuador that exceed $ 13.6 million are the new revelations of a file delivered by the Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office to the Peruvian authorities, to which EL UNIVERSO newspaper had access.

So far, bribes from Odebrecht have been revealed for $ 51 million. With these new records, Bribes from the Brazilian construction company to Ecuadorians would exceed $ 64 million.

The new file arrived in Lima on September 20 for the investigation against former congresswoman and former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori. They are the so-called spreadsheets of the encrypted program of the My Web Day B construction company of the Structured Operations Division. This was the department of the company that handled the payments of bribes, travel or gifts to officials in many countries in exchange for obtaining contracts. The Peruvian portal IDL Reporteros shared this information with this newspaper.

The forms have the same format as others previously included in Marcelo Odebrecht’s award-winning report to the Brazilian authorities, which also included payments for works in other countries. EL UNIVERSO published in December 2018 that this amount amounted to $ 442 thousand in Ecuador.

In this new revelation, it is about worksheets number 260 corresponding to the year 2006 and 090 of the first semester of 2011. The amounts are assigned by works and recipients with nicknames, a method used by the construction company to hide the identity of officials and bribed people. Most of these would be payments not known to the Ecuadorian authorities.

This newspaper requested a reaction from the Ecuadorian subsidiary of Constructora Odebrecht and is awaiting an official statement that the company will issue from Brazil.

The judicial investigation of the Odebrecht case in Ecuador did not cover the 2006 and 2011 bribes, which come to light with these new documents. The legal process focused on the return of the company to fix and complete the construction of the San Francisco Hydroelectric Plant, in the second half of 2010. It happened in the government of Rafael Correa, once the Comptroller’s glosses were lifted.

The main evidence was provided by the director José Conceicao Santos, who delivered the bank drafts sent to companies in Panama and the Caribbean Islands. Most of them were since 2012, with the exception of some bribes directed through the Panamanian Columbia Management, dating from mid-2010. This company, as Santos indicated, provided him with cash to make some illegal payments. In the first half of 2011, Columbia received two of the 20 million it would receive over five years.

In the case of this new file, there is a spreadsheet for the first semester of 2011, which is the most expensive, added $ 8.4 million in bribes contemplated by the San Francisco and Toachi Pilatón hydroelectric plants, the Baba Multipurpose Project and the Carrizal Chone 2nd Irrigation System. Stage.

The work for which the most bribes were destined was San Francisco: $ 8 million. It is followed by Baba with $ 201 thousand, Toachi Pilatón with $ 115 thousand and Carrizal Chone 2nd. Stage for $ 50 thousand.

The recipients of the bribes are associated with 17 nicknames or “Codinome”, as they were designated. Among them: “Aux Contra”, “Step 1″, “Step 2″, “Jasaman”, Guerrillas”, “Perfect”, “Miami”, “Alemao” and “Pintao”. The nicknames Degrau1 and Degrau2 received the most money, with a total of $ 6.5 million.

Of all the nicknames that appear on this sheet, only one was already known. Is about “Miami”, as the then comptroller Carlos Pólit was supposedly called, convicted in Ecuador for the Odebrecht case and who now lives in that city in the United States. In the file it appears as a recipient of $ 883 thousand.

The other form, from 2006, corresponds to the government of Alfredo Palacio (2005-2007). Payments totaled $ 5.2 million, but while more nicknames are included, 185 names, not all transactions are recorded. The explanation given by judicial sources is that the file was not fully decrypted.

The works related to this worksheet are: the Tena Airport, the Carrizal Chone Irrigation System 1st. and 2nd. stages, the San Francisco and Toachi Pilatón hydroelectric plants and the Baba Multipurpose Project. There is also the “CRM Manabí” (Water Management Regulatory Corporation of Manabí). According to these bribery records, $ 2.7 million was allocated to San Francisco and $ 2 million to Multipurpose Baba.

The most interesting thing about this form is that the reason for the bribes is detailed and Odebrecht canceled for various reasons. Many are related to the disbursements to continue with the works.

In Carrizal Chone, for example, payments are detailed for the arrival of CAF disbursements (Andean Development Corporation); in Baba, for a Comptroller’s exam; in San Francisco, for the qualification of the contract, for the release of the funds of the Quito Electric Company or the Category (Corporation for the Temporary Electricity Administration of Guayaquil), by “VAT Decree”, by “TBM Insurance”, for guarantees and for the recognition of the exchange deficit; and in Tena by signing the credit agreement.

Among the nicknames stand out “Cousin”, “Long Play” “Playboy”, “Bravo”, “Directory”, “Mon Lady”, “Irmaos Metralha”, “Exiled” and “Jesus Christ”. The names that are also repeated in the 2011 payroll are Pintao, Guerrillas, Nasty and Alemao.

Between May and October 2006, Odebrecht registered six payments for $ 670 thousand assigned to the San Francisco Hydroelectric Plant. The reason was “Political Achievement” and the nickname “New CPs”.

The works

The contract for the construction of the San Francisco Hydroelectric Plant was awarded to the Odebrecht Ansaldo consortium in 2000, for $ 286.9 million. The main contract had ten addenda. Of these, three were signed in 2006, the year in which the Brazilian construction company gave the bribes for this work, according to the new files revealed.

The construction was handed over to Rafael Correa’s government in 2007, but a year later the president expelled Odebrecht from the country, claiming that San Francisco had flaws. The construction company returned in July 2010, after accepting all the conditions to repair the plant. The following year, more bribes were disbursed, according to new files.

The Carrizal Chone System was built in two stages. The Manabí Water Management Regulatory Corporation (CRM) awarded both contracts to the Odebrecht – Hidalgo & Hidalgo Association. The first was signed in 2002 for $ 97.7 million.

2006, the year in which, according to the files, the bribes for this work were delivered, was key. The contractor delivered the first stage and signed the contract for the second, for $ 102.9 million.

With the departure of Odebrecht in 2008, the MCA awarded a new contract to another supplier to complete the second stage. According to the documents, Odebrecht gave bribes for this work also in 2011.

The contract for the Baba Multipurpose Project was awarded in 2006. In that year, bribes for this work were recorded on Odebrecht’s payroll. After the departure of this construction company from the country, the work was in the hands of OAS Ltd., also Brazilian. The documents indicate that Odebrecht also bribed for this work in 2011.

OAS Ltd. was investigated for corruption and money laundering in Brazil and in the process it was discovered that its former accounting advisor diverted $ 9.1 million of the funds received by OAS Ltd. in Ecuador for the Baba project.

In February 2006, Odebrecht signed a preliminary agreement with the public company Hidrotoapi SA to build the Toachi Pilatón hydroelectric plant. which at that time belonged to the Prefecture of Pichincha.

The construction contract for this hydroelectric plant was signed in 2007 and was financed with resources from the Ecuadorian Investment Fund in the Energy and Hydrocarbon Sectors (Feiseh), thanks to regulatory modifications applied by then-President Rafael Correa.

After Odebrecht left in 2008, the work passed into the hands of the Chinese company CWE. This contract was signed in December 2010. According to the disclosed files, Odebrecht gave bribes for this work in 2011.

Alecksey Mosquera, a former Minister of Electricity, was convicted of receiving $ 1 million in bribes related to Toachi Pilatón. He was president of the Feiseh Commission.

Finally, the idea to build the Tena Airport was designed in the government of Lucio Gutiérrez and generated controversy over the management of the project. The contract, which was awarded to the Ubicea consortium (made up of Odebrecht, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Ecuadorian Consermin SA), was valued at almost $ 60 million.

However, with the fall of Gutiérrez in April 2005 the work was put on hold. According to the new files revealed, the bribes for this work were delivered a year later.

The work was resumed in the government of Rafael Correa, with a new contract that was awarded in 2008 to Tena Consortium (made up of Odebrecht and Ekron Construcciones SA) for $ 34.8 million. Then two supplementary contracts were signed for $ 5.6 million and for $ 5 million. (I)

This report is part of the Structured Journalistic Investigations Network, led by IDL-Reporteros, from Peru, and made up of reporters from Diario La Nación of Argentina, Metropoles of Brazil, EL UNIVERSO of Ecuador, Quinto Element Lab of Mexico, Diario La Prensa from Panama, Sudestada from Uruguay and Armando Info from Venezuela.