Pemex official in charge of Dos Bocas project linked to Odebrecht

Mexico’s state owned company Pemex

has disclosed the names and functions of all its members who participated in the subscription of three contracts that were delivered to the Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht , which was accused of handing out bribes to Latin American governments in exchange of public works contracts.

Through the National Transparency Platform , both the Corporate Directorate of Administration and Services and the Corporate Directorate of Procurement and Supply , as well as the Coordination of Procurement and Supply for Industrial Transformation at Pemex pointed out that 12 government officials were in charge of signing the contracts , though only one, Leonardo Cornejo Serrano , had participated in all three of them back when he was coordinator of Modernization and Capacity Expansion at Pemex Refining .

The state official was also commissioned by Energy Minister Rocío Nahle García to oversee the construction of the new refinery and modernize production plants in Madero, Tula, Minatitlán, Salamanca, Salina Cruz, and Cadereyta .

On January 21 , the head of SENER (Ministry of Energy) ordered Pemex director Octavio Romero Oropeza to “simplify and streamline staff at the Assistant Direction of Projects of Pemex Industrial Transformation (TRI) , led by Cornejo Serrano, to initiate the new Dos Bocas refinery project in the Mexican state of Tabasco .”

To ensure compliance, the director of Pemex redirected the record to the head of Pemex TRI, Miguel G. Breceda Lapeyre , so that Cornejo Serrano would handle the project.

The assistant director of Pemex TRI Projects was notified of the instructions given by the Ministry of Energy on January 23.

One of the contracts signed by Cornejo Serrano was for the Norberto Odebrecht construction company dated February 15, 2014 for site preparation of the Utilization of Residual Materials at the Miguel Hidalgo refinery, which came with a cost of MXN$436.4 million .

Another contract was for the “construction of access points and external works for the utilization of residual materials at the Miguel Hidalgo refinery,” which cost MXN$1.8 billion , out of which 400 million were paid in 2016 . However, the project was suspended on March 7 that same year.

As for the third contract, Cornejo Serrano approved the construction of water treatment facilities at the Salamanca refinery for a cost of MXN$1.74 billion , out of which more than 400 million were paid, though said project was also suspended in 2016.

The information delivered by Pemex through the National Transparency Platform did not allude to two other contracts Pemex Refining gave to Odebrecht.

The Brazilian company started giving USD$16.59 million worth of bribes in 2009 in exchange of contracts, according to a U.S. investigation .

Even former Pemex director Emilio Lozoya was accused of receiving a USD$10 million bribe.

Mexican government agreed not to bring charges against Odebrecht

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