The W learned for the first time that the Colombian State was notified for having won an international lawsuit which had at stake the sum of more than one billion pesos of the Nation for the case Meritage.
With a last minute move, Colombia was saved from paying the huge sum of money to the American citizen Angel Samuel Seda and its partners in the Meritage real estate project, who began to build on some land on the outskirts of Medellin that had a questioned land history because they belonged to drug traffickers and paramilitaries.
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The strategy of the National Agency for Legal Defense of the State was in charge of its current director, Jhon Camargo, as well as the lawyers Giovanni Vega and Ximena Herrera. Before the International Arbitration Court, they maintained until the last minute that the American citizen was Financing the legal dispute with drug money.
In a 196-page ruling, Colombia managed to mark a milestone in international arbitration issuessince it became evident that it is the first time that a State has won the ‘essential security exception’.
That is, it was shown that the process of forfeiture of domain is completely legit.
The mess is related to the luxurious real estate development Meritage near Envigado, in the department of Antioquia, which was subject to domain forfeiture. In his turn, the American citizen Angel Samuel Seda He disagreed with the decision and sued the Colombian State for more than 300 million dollars.
Let us remember that this megalot began to be built on land on the outskirts of Medellín that has been questioned because the land belonged to Ivan Lopez Vanegasmember of the criminal group ‘The Envigado Office’However, the name of also appeared in the ownership history Hector Restrepo, former drug trafficker and paramilitaryknown by the alias ‘Crazy Bitch’.
For this reason, the Prosecutor’s Office initiated a process of domain forfeiture despite the fact that Silk maintains that he was a good faith buyer and that he did not know the history of the property.
The director of the State Legal Agency, Jhon Camargo, announced in a conversation with La W that this lawsuit would be about to come out and said that, when filed a procedural incident In the face of international arbitration, just as the case was being closed, the Agency received a “scolding”.
“It cost me a “pull of the ears” of the firm that represents me, which is GBS, of my work team and of the Agency, because it seemed antithetical to them that I once again told the court: ‘gentlemen, what is happening here is a essential security issueyou cannot surprise us with an award that materializes money laundering behavior in favor of a drug trafficker,’” Camargo explained.
However, this persistence produced a victory for Colombiasince he was saved from paying the millionaire sum of money.
In fact, Camargo was emphatic in stating that the arbitration award was being funded by drug money and in indicating that allowing the country to lose meant leaving the resources of Colombians in the hands of a drug trafficker.
He Minister of Justice, Néstor Osunareacted to the historic Meritage ruling, which saves the Nation from paying more than $1 billion.
“This is the first time that the International Arbitration Centre, protects a State in its sovereign right to combat money laundering“, said.
