Versión Español
An investigation published by the newspaper Expreso has revealed the alleged code names of eighteen Ecuadorian politicians who received bribes from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
The report not only implicates 18 Ecuadorian politicians, but includes more than 500 alleged recipients of bribes from Brazil and Peru.
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“Those listed are receiving bribes from Odebrecht,” said Concepcion Andrade, an Odebrecht employee who has previously confessed to supervising the crooked accounting of the Brazilian company.
“Secret 1”, “Secret 2”, “Grosso”, “Matraca”, “Bank”, “Nippon”, “Lights”, and “Chanceller” are some of the code names used to disguise true identies, while keeping records of various payments of bribes.
According to Expreso, the code names of politicians, officials, and lawyers, were chosen in secret by Odebrecht’s trusted employees according to the physical characteristics, personality traits, or professional status, of those receiving the bribes.
The published report also establishes the presence of Odebrecht in Ecuador since 1987, starting with the Leon Febres Cordero government, when it won its first contracts in Ecuador for USD $176 million.
Later, the state rehired the construction company for an amount of USD $240 million, under the government of Sixto Durán Ballén.
Odebrecht obtained contracts for USD $126 million during the regime of Fabián Alarcón and later was awarded an additional USD $143 million in contracts during the presidency of Jamil Mahuad.
During the mandate of Gustavo Noboa,the contract total was USD $384 million, and Alfredo Palacio awarded a total of USD $285 million.
Neither the government of Rodrigo Borja nor the government of Lucio Gutiérrez signed contracts with the Brazilian company.
In the last decade, under the government of Rafael Correa, the company won contracts for USD $1.6 billion.
Rafael Correa, who has been in office since 2007, recently announced plans to step down from the presidency in 2017 in order to move to Europe and focus on academia.
The candidate of his ruling Alianza Pais party Lenin Moreno, is currently leading in polls, but he is facing a spirited challenge from opposition candidates Guillermo Lasso and Cynthia Viteri.
Source: La Republica, Ecuavisa
