Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) paid $3.7 million to a shell company reportedly owned by Brazilian developer Odebrecht to pay bribes, investigative news site Quinto Elemento Lab said on Monday.
The news site included AHMSA’s official response, confirming the steelmaker paid $3.7 million to Grangemouth to advise the steelmaker on a steelworks expansion in Monclova, Mexico, SteelOrbis has learned.
According to the report, AHMSA made three wire transfers right after it announced the sale of a controversial fertilizer plant to state-owned oil producer Pemex in 2014 for $273 million. The report noted the account that received AHMSA’s payments was registered in Antigua.
AHMSA denied it had any accounts in Antigua, however, it did confirm in the news report it made the payments for the expansion project. AHMSA said it ended up canceling the project, which resulted in the combined payment of $3.7 million.
The account was allegedly set up by Odebrecht through Grangemouth Trading Company, which is in turn registered in Scotland. According to document courts in Brazil, the name was cited as a shell company used by an Odebrecht employee to pay bribes.
The Antigua accounted used by AHMSA to pay Grangemouth was the same one Odebrecht executives used to reportedly pay bribes to a Pemex executive.