Odebrecht unit vows to fight sanctions imposed by Mexico

The Mexican unit of Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht said on Monday it will fight the sanctions announced last week by the Mexican government, dismissing them as unfair and unjustified.

Mexico banned federal institutions and state governments from doing business with Odebrecht for 2-1/2 years and fined two units of the companies around $30 million each.

The government did not detail what was behind the decisions, but officials said they were related to probes into suspected corruption between the firm and Mexican state oil company Pemex.

In an open letter in the Mexican newspaper Excelsior, Odebrecht Mexico said the sanctions imposed were "completely unfounded and unfair" and it would fight them "with all legal means."

Odebrecht has spent the past few years at the center of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin America, and has admitted paying bribes from Peru to Panama and Mexico.


(Reporting by Veronica Gomez Editing by Paul Simao)