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News > Latin America

Lenin Demands Odebrecht Publish List of Corrupted Officials in Ecuador

  • Lenin Moreno leads the presidential polls for the second round of elections in Ecuador.

    Lenin Moreno leads the presidential polls for the second round of elections in Ecuador. | Photo: AFP

Published 23 March 2017
Opinion

As part of his anti-corruption campaign, Lenin Moreno wants authorities to prosecute all those involved in the scheme.

Left-wing presidential candidate Lenin Moreno demanded Wednesday that Brazilian construction company Odebrecht publish the list of Ecuadoreans who allegedly received bribes, as part of his campaign promise to tackle corruption.

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Ecuador's Correa Vows to Plow Ahead with Tough Corruption Probe

"I demand Odebrecht to present the full list of corrupt people," said Moreno during a press conference in the capital city of Quito. 

Moreno, who leads the polls for the upcoming second round of elections on April 2, has said he wants to lead a "major surgery against corruption." 

In Ecuador, the attorney general’s office began an investigation in December after Ecuadorean officials requested complete and uncensored information related to the allegations that the company had paid US$33.5 million in bribes between 1987 and 1992.

Odebrecht officials have been found guilty of corruption, leading a worldwide bribery scheme paying millions to "intermediaries" to secure contracts in a dozen countries.

Moreno, from the ruling party Alianza Pais, said Odebrecht needs to identify "the corrupt people from yesterday and the corrupt ones now so that they are submitted, of course, to justice." 

WATCH: Who Is Lenin Moreno

Judicial authorities in Brazil and the United States, have said they will not disclose the names of those involved in the corruption scheme as long as the investigations continue.

RELATED:
Ecuador Detains Suspect in State Oil Company Corruption Case

On the other hand, his opponent right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso, from the Alliance Creo-Suma, told reporters that he has the list and will publish it only after he becomes president.

"In the first 30 days of our government we will give the list of officials who received bribes from Odebrecht, what they intend to hide today," said Lasso on Twitter.

Lasso has earned criticism in social media for alleging he has the list of names but saying he would only publish it after the elections in the hypothetical case that he wins.

President Rafael Correa expelled Odebrecht from the country in 2008 after "technical irregularities" were discovered in the San Francisco hydroelectric plant project in Quito, a project that began in 2000 under the presidency of Gustavo Noboa.

The company only came back in 2010 to fix the project as demanded by the Ecuadorean state, and paid US$55.7 million to do so, as well as US$20 million in fines.

WATCH: Odebrecht: Brazilian Corruption Scandal Goes Global

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