Mexico bans Brazil's Odebrecht from participating in federal contracts

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has prohibited scandal-plagued Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht SA from participating in public federal contracts, Mexico's public administration ministry said on Friday.

State-owned entities, such as oil firm Pemex, are banned from entering into a contract with Odebrecht or receiving proposals from the firm for three years, the ministry said in a statement.

Odebrecht did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The construction firm has been at the center of one of the world's largest corruption scandals for paying billions of dollars in bribes across Latin America in exchange for public-works contracts.

Mexico last year banned federal institutions and state governments from doing business with Odebrecht for 2-1/2 years, but has not brought criminal charges against the company.

Friday's statement did not address the previous ban, but the public administration ministry said Odebrecht's Mexico subsidiary had provided false information in fulfilling a construction contract, and that Odebrecht's Construtora Norberto unit had overcharged Pemex.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Tom Brown)

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