The Colombian State, through the State Legal Defense Agency, was notified that it had won an international lawsuit against it for the legal disputes surrounding the Meritage real estate project, on the outskirts of Medellín. This was built on land that belonged to drug traffickers from the Envigado Office and that is why it was stopped in 2016 by the Colombian justice system.
For the losses caused in the middle of the construction of this real estate project, the plaintiffs demanded compensation from the Colombian State of 300 million dollars, a little more than 1.2 billion pesos. A claim that had been going on since 2019 and that was denied today by the American justice system.
The State’s defense was handled by the director of the Agency, lawyer Jhon Camargo. He argued that the international dispute was being financed with drug money and that what was at stake was that the Colombian money would not fall into the hands of a drug trafficker.
The Minister of Justice celebrated the legal victory. In a statement, Minister Néstor Osuna said: “This is the first time that the international arbitration center (ICSID) protects a State in its sovereign right to fight against money laundering.” He recognized the importance of this fact to support the actions taken by the Colombian judicial authorities in this case.
