A call to the Judicial Body to fail the processes within the term established by the Arbitration Law and to the banking system to comply with the obligation to seize and seize assets of debtors by court order, raised the lawyer Diego De La Guardia, legal representative of Desarrollos Hidroeléctricas, Corp., which six years ago won an arbitration against Catunsa Infraestructuras, SA and Nacional de Seguros de Panamá y Centroamérica, without it having been executed to date.
The case dates back to September 3, 2015, when Desarrollos Hidroeléctricas, Corp., filed a lawsuit before the Center for Conciliation and Arbitration of Panama against the 2 companies, within the contract for the supervision of the design, assembly, supply, construction of civil works, installation of hydromechanical equipment, testing and commissioning of the San Andrés hydroelectric project.
De La Guardia stated that the owner of the hydroelectric project hired the company of Spanish origin for some work on the site; however, it seizes the advance money of more than a million and a half dollars, and fails to carry out the work it was supposed to do, so a legal process is initiated that was ruled by the Arbitration Court in its favor. .
“Arbitrations generally last six months. They are abbreviated, easy, all the tests are practiced and in the end, the arbitral tribunal makes a decision in favor of one or the other party. In the case that draws our attention is that, after six years of having resolved the controversy, we are still in the process of executing the arbitration award”, he denounced.
He indicated that this decision has been interrupted by all kinds of resources from Catunsa such as Nacional de Seguros SA, a bonding company that, instead of trying to resolve the dispute, has delayed it for six years.
According to the operative part of the process, the Arbitration Court ordered “Catunsa Infraestructuras SA, to return in favor of Desarrollos Hidroeléctricas Corp., the amounts paid as an advance payment for services not performed by them, as stipulated in the contract, in the order of B/.1,641.781.20.
Consequently, it orders Nacional de Seguros de Panamá y Centroamérica SA, in its capacity as guarantor of the contracting company Catunsa Infraestructuras SA, to pay Desarrollos Hidroeléctricas, Corp., the sum of B/.1,641.781.20 to which the guarantor agreed. due to the advance payment bond issued by the insurance company in favor of Catunsa Infraestructuras SA to guarantee its obligations with Desarrollos Hidroeléctricas Corp., regarding the contract for the supervision of the project”, entered into on December 12, 2014.
tardy justice
Regarding the practice of resorting to the Supreme Court of Justice by companies that lose arbitrations to delay the processes, De La Guardia stated that “in experience, they are irresponsible companies that do not want to assume their responsibility and that they never wanted to do so and have accomplices lawyers who lend themselves to it”.
As for the banks that fail to comply with the embargoes and precautions, he warned that “the banking system operates to play live, because after you have an arbitration award, you go to an annulment appeal and everything is ruled in your favor, you have to go to the Judicial Body to order the debtor to pay. You return to the Judicial Branch to execute the award, the debtor’s accounts are seized and there are simply banks that do not respond.
He pointed out that this long six-year process has had an economic impact on his client’s company – Desarrollos Hidroeléctricas, Corp.-, since it was intervened by the banks to finish the work because it was left without being able to collect from the surety company.
