08:32 PM
Colombia was saved from paying nearly a billion pesos which a group of international investors intended to collect for what they alleged was an erroneous decision by the Colombian State in declaring the extinction of domain over the Meritage real estate complex, which is abandoned on Avenida Las Palmas, in the jurisdiction of Envigado.
The Presidency of the Republic announced the favorable ruling, which occurred in a international arbitration court that accepted the country’s use of the Essential Security Exceptioncontemplated in the international treaties and agreements signed with the World Trade Organization (WTO), being the first time in history, according to the National Agency for Legal Defense of the State (ANJE), that an instance of this type accepts that a country take advantage of this exceptional measure, provided for in the GATT agreements of the WTO.
We invite you to read: Meritage case: will the project be unraveled if the Colombian State is ordered to pay $1 billion?
“This is a unique and historic victory not only for our country, but internationally for the entire arbitration community and the legitimacy of the investment arbitration system,” said the ANJE regarding the decision issued by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. (ICSID), based in the city of Washington (United States).
ICSID rejected the lawsuit of businessman Ángel Samuel Seda, who, representing several foreign investors, alleged that Colombia had violated the Trade Promotion Treaty with the United States, after occupying the land on which the aforementioned project was being developed, within a criminal process for laundering assets from drug trafficking, and therefore, demanded that the public treasury recognize a compensation of 255 million dollars.
The ICSID award avoided commenting on the legality of this domain extinction considering that the measure was adopted by the Colombian justice system to protect essential security interests of the State.
“It is clear that the domain forfeiture action initiated by Colombia against the Meritage project had legitimate purposessince he always sought to prevent the completion of money laundering for the benefit of one of the country’s main criminal organizations,” according to ANDJE lawyers.
Additionally, we suggest you see: Lot in Las Palmas, the center of a lawsuit for which Colombia would have to pay more than $1 billion
On the subject it is worth knowing the following: this project It was offered between 2015 and 2016 with the promise of becoming a luxury housing and commercial development of such magnitude that it would be equivalent to three times the El Tesoro shopping center.
The developers They managed to build five towers but these have been abandoned since 2016when construction was halted because the lot was subject to domain extinction by the State and the cause was that The authorities linked him to Iván López Vanegas, a Colombian identified by the Prosecutor’s Office as a member of the Oficina gang., who was prosecuted in the United States for drug trafficking. However, he later returned to the country exonerated of the charges.
The edge of the case in the country
Apart from the international claim that has just been decided, Within the country there are other processes led by those who bought apartments and premises there and consider themselves affected by the decision taken by the State.
One of these cases has already been ruled on in the first instance by the Administrative Court of Antioquia negatively to the claims of just over 50 people and is currently in the Council of State. The other, of about 30 people, is still pending in the first instance in the same Antioquia court.
When asked about the impact of the decision just made in Washington regarding the matter in question, Victor Perez, one of the lawyers representing these 87 people, said thatAlthough for them a ruling condemning the Colombian State would have been more favorable, in reality the fact that a resolution had occurred is already positive.
You may also be interested in: Court upheld the embargo on the Meritage project property
“Although you have to read the ruling in detail to have clarity on the matter, ultimately what is important here is that the Colombian State is now liberated and the judges can examine the situation of national investors with greater freedom,” he said.
He also added that there are circumstances that can make a difference, because while the foreign investors, against whom they have just ruled, were people specialized in the field of construction and who, therefore, had the means and the obligation to carry out a process of very in-depth due diligence with a view to knowing the problems that the lot where the Meritage project was developed would have, the national buyers were ordinary people who were guided by the favorable concepts provided by three banking entities.
“They said that this was fine and asking more from an ordinary citizen is really disproportionate, but one does not know how the judges are going to resolve the case, because there is also a lot of money involved,” he stressed. The nationals’ claims are said to be around 200 billion pesos.
