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QUITO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on Wednesday that his country was involved in "difficult negotiations" with Brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht, in order to gain access to a list of Ecuadorian officials the company paid bribes to.
Ecuador's prosecutor-general and attorney-general, Galo Chiriboga and Diego Garcia, were in the United States to meet with Odebrecht representatives to seek an agreement, Correa told a press conference.
"The truth is that the Odebrecht investigation is moving forward ... but nobody has the list," said Correa, adding that his government was not hiding any facts about the case.
Ecuador is one of 12 countries in Latin America and Africa in which Odebrecht paid around 788 million U.S. dollars in bribes, according to evidence published by the U.S. Justice Department in December.
The information revealed that Odebrecht paid 33.5 million U.S. dollars to Ecuadorian officials between 2007 and 2016 in order to gain public contracts worth 116 million U.S. dollars.
According to Correa, other countries such as Colombia and Peru are also engaged in similar negotiations with Odebrecht to access their own lists.
He said that the Justice Department probably has the list of bribed officials but "they have clearly said they will not reveal it until investigations are over."
