Ecuador ratifies fine of US$ 56.7 million to Odebrecht

The Superintendence for Market Power Control (SCPM) of Ecuador ratified this Thursday (09) the fines imposed on Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and state-owned Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (Celec) for colluding in public procurement.

Superintendent Danilo Sylva denied the appeals presented separately by both companies against the fines applied in the first instance to Odebrecht (now called CNO in Ecuador), in the amount of US$ 56.7 million (equivalent to R$ 293 million at current quotations) ; and to Celec, in the amount of US$ 1.3 million (R$ 6.7 million).

The decision was taken considering that there was no violation of the right to due process of law, nor vices that affected the administrative sanctioning procedure, as detailed by the SCPM in a statement.

The vertical collusion agreement was closed between Celec, as a contractor, and Odebrecht, as a supplier to the State, for the construction of the Manduriacu hydroelectric plant and the repair of the loading tunnel of the Pucará hydroelectric plant.

The cost of these two works increased by more than US$ 130 million (R$ 672 million) during their construction, above the reference budgets.

The Manduriacu hydroelectric plant, for example, was auctioned for US$ 118 million (R$ 610 million) and its final cost was US$ 222.3 million (R$ 1.1 billion), with an addition of US$ 103, 8 million (R$ 533 million).

For the repair of the Pucará tunnel, the increase in the cost of the work was US$ 26 million (R$ 134 million), since it was bid for US$ 14.9 million (R$ 77 million) and the final bill was of US$ 41.1 million (R$ 212 million).

For SCPM, collusion was proven both in the award-winning statement signed by Odebrecht’s lawyer before the US Department of Justice and in the award-winning statement by the former director of Odebrecht in Ecuador, José Conceição Santos, before the Federal Supreme Court in Brazil.

Ecuador was one of 12 countries in Latin America where Odebrecht acknowledged committing acts of corruption to win major public works contracts, in a scandal that included multimillion-dollar kickbacks and irregular financing of the election campaigns of several presidential candidates.