SANTIAGO — Chilean police raided the offices of Brazil’s Odebrecht in capital Santiago on Wednesday, as part of a widening investigation into bribes paid by the conglomerate on construction projects across Latin America.
A Chilean prosecutor will travel to Brasilia this month to work with Brazilian colleagues questioning Odebrecht executives, national public prosecutor Jorge Abbott told journalists.
There were “certain people that we want to talk to in respect of events that may have occurred in Chile that could eventually be constituted as a crime,” he said.
Odebrecht, Latin America’s largest engineering group, agreed in December to pay a record fine and has admitted to paying bribes to officials in 12 countries, mostly in Latin America, to help secure lucrative contracts.
Prosecutors from 10 countries, including Chile, are forming a task force to share evidence in the case.
Chile’s prosecutors are also looking into allegations that Brazil’s engineering group OAS illicitly channeled funds to Chilean political campaigns. OAS offices in Santiago were raided last month.
Odebrecht’s website does not list any current projects in operation in Chile.
