Pemex Hires Hogan Lovells to Audit Contracts With Odebrecht
- Oil company last week said it hired legal representation
- Pemex yet to be identified as company in DOJ investigation
A Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) employee grabs a fuel pump at the company's gas station in Mexico City, Mexico, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. Mexico will raise gasoline prices by as much as 20 percent in January, stoking inflation that's already running at the fastest pace in almost two years.
Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/BloombergPetroleos Mexicanos has hired the same legal representation used by Brazilian utility Eletrobras to audit its contracts with Odebrecht SA and affiliate Braskem SA amid an ongoing investigation into those two companies by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hogan Lovells US LLP, which for the past two years has been leading an internal audit of state-owned Eletrobras related to the Carwash graft probe in Brazil, was hired to conduct an internal investigation of Pemex’s contracts with Odebrecht and Braskem, the Mexican oil company said in an emailed statement. Pemex’s legal director, Jorge Kim, said last week Pemex hired legal representation to carry out an internal investigation and "clear up the facts," without naming the firm.