The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) reported after the lawsuit made by the Brazilian company Odebrecht against the Peruvian State, they would be claiming compensation for more than US $ 1.2 billion.
Odebrecht has presented its charges before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on January 21. Among them, it is argued that Peru did not comply and even breached its obligations with respect to the Gasoducto Sur Peruano project.
Reactions
Given the fact, the MEF has indicated that the State will make use of its right of defense. «(The State) will strongly oppose any inappropriate use of dispute resolution mechanisms,» the ministry said in a press release.
On the other hand, the prime minister, Vicente Zeballos, has expressed much more emphatic respect to the issue. «The Government does not negotiate with corrupt, what I do say is that the defense corresponds to the Unit of International Disputes led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and, take it for granted, we already have in the same Gas Pipeline a contentious arbitration raised by Enagás, the same defense that is seeing this case will assume it is the case of Obdebrecht, ”he told the media from Loreto.
Was not planned?
Prosecutors admitted that it was not planned that the company already has a process in the country and many others abroad. For the prosecutor who delegates the most emblematic cases, José Domingo Perez, there was no possibility of a pact of future situations. Meanwhile, Prosecutor Vela concluded that in a negotiation there was no claim to demand.
It should be noted that already in 2017, Odebrecht had already tempted the possibility of suing the Peruvian state, so it would not have been a surprise for the Executive to launch the idea. According to the former anti-corruption solicitor, Katherine Ampuero, «this scenario was seen coming and was warned.»
The arguments
The great arguments of the Brazilian company, according to the MEF, emerge from January 24, 2017, when the Peruvian State arbitrarily canceled the concession contract for the Peruvian Southern Gas Pipeline and opted for other measures that went against the rights of the subsidiary
Among other measures that the State developed and that are considered as the company’s arguments to substantiate the lawsuit are related to the anti-corruption laws that the State took two years ago.