Operation of a jet in Ecuador

Odebrecht offices in Ecuador are the target of a search and seizure operation.

Quito, Dec 23 (EFE) .- The Ecuadorian Public Prosecutor's Office carried out a search and seizure operation at Odebrecht's offices in Guayaquil on Friday, where it seized documents that may relate to information on tuition of more than US $ 35, 5 million to government officials.

In the operation, carried out during the night, 23 folders with papers, three books and 23 notebooks were seized, as well as two CDs and four portable computers, according to the Public Ministry.

The agents also confiscated a CPU (central processing unit) and two external hard drives, according to the prosecution, who requested criminal assistance in this case from the United States, Brazil and Sweden.

The operation took place in two offices in a commercial center in the port city and, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office in its Twitter account, sought "documentary, material and digital evidence that could be related" to the case.

Attorney General Galo Chiriboga said on Thursday that reports requested from the US and Brazil on possible ramifications of the issue in Ecuador will provide "sufficient basis" to investigate alleged bribes to officials of the Ecuadorian government.

"With the information that Brazil has and the information sent to the US Department of Justice, we will have a sufficient basis to work," said Chiriboga.

The US Department of Justice, according to documents released this week, said Odebrecht paid approximately $ 788 million in tips in 12 countries in Latin America and Africa, including Brazil.

The Justice Department report indicates that in Ecuador, between 2007 and 2016, the developer made payments of more than $ 35.5 million to "government officials," which generated profits of more than $ 116 million.

The Ecuadorian government, meanwhile, said on Thursday that it did not rule out that there had been "payments or acts of corruption" of the Brazilian company involving employees, but said that its performance in relation to this company was correct and recalled that it was expelled Of the country in 2008, although it later returned to outsourced services to the state.

In addition, the government has demanded that the names of people involved in alleged corrupt acts be revealed.

Presidential legal secretary Alexis Mera said that when President Rafael Correa came to power, he found "serious irregularities" regarding the San Francisco hydroelectric power plant project, but there is no evidence of "deposits and no checks."

Following Odebrecht's withdrawal in 2008, the company returned to outsourced services to the Ecuadorian State in July 2010 and participated in five works that were "audited by the State Comptroller General," according to the National Secretariat of Communication (Secom).