Versión Español
EspañolChilean investigative officers searched the offices of Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in Santiago March 1 as part of an investigation into the company’s alleged bribes to obtain public contracts.
The same scandal that is taking place in several Latin American countries also arrived in Chile this last month due to allegations of irregular contributions to political campaigns. Prosecutor Ximena Chong is in charge of the investigation.
According to media reports, the police managed to confiscate documentation from the offices that might be relevant to the investigation.
Among the documents seized are the accounting records from 2012 to 2015 that coincide with the presidential campaign of Marco Enríquez-Ominami in 2013.
Likewise, Brazilian media outlets claimed that current Chilean President Michelle Bachelet was also linked to the construction company.
According to National Prosecutor Jorge Abott, Chong will travel to Brasilia this month to witness interrogations of Odebrecht executives.
“We hope that the prosecutor can go to Brazil the second week of March to witness the declaration that Brazilian prosecutors carry out with certain people that we have requested regarding events that may have occurred in Chile and that may eventually constitute a crime,” Abott said.
On December 21, details of corruption came to light after the Justice Department and the US Attorney’s Office published a confession in which directors of the Brazilian company admitted to having paid approximately US $788 million in 11 countries in Latin America and Mozambique.
Some of those countries were: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Perú and Venezuela.
Sources: El Comercio; El País.
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