The Municipality of Lima announced last night with great fanfare that the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York authorized the Peruvian State to request financial information in the United States linked to the origin and financing of the concession. Lima Routes.
The ruling was issued on November 18 at the request of the Lima commune, which since the administration of former mayor Rafael López Aliaga has filed various appeals in international courts to annul the tolls that the concessionaire, which has the corrupt company Odebrecht among its shareholders, installed in the south and north of the capital.
The municipality, headed today by Renzo Reggiardo, has taken legal action against the Canadian fund Brookfield, which in 2016 bought 57% of Rutas de Lima from Odebrecht.
The thesis is that Brookfield was aware of the alleged acts of corruption committed by the Brazilian construction company before acquiring its participation in the concession of the tolls.
If this is proven, what the city authorities are seeking is for the Canadian fund to be sanctioned for violating the laws of the New York stock exchange. The then management of López Aliaga paid S/3 million to the Boies Schiller Flexner studio to support the lawsuit, as revealed Peru21.
The contracts linked to toll collections were signed both during the administration of accused former mayor Susana Villarán and that of the deceased Luis Castañeda Lossio.
Are Rutas de Lima arbitrations falling?
However, it is not clear what the real and immediate effect of that ruling is. For now, it is only that the Peruvian State will access information on Brookfield’s movements that it made in Scotiabank, the CHIPS payment network, KPMG and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
This newspaper contacted Wilber Medina, the municipality’s lawyer, to find out what will be done with the documentation accessed, whether it will be used against the arbitrations filed by Rutas de Lima or in some other legal measure.
“First, have it (the information) and evaluate its content. Before that, I cannot give an opinion on what we do not know will be found,” Medina said briefly.
Having a final report on the conclusions of what was found can take weeks or even months.
Peru21 He sought the reactions of the former prosecutor of the Lava Jato case, Silvana Carrión, who provided clarifications about the resolution.
“The New York judge has clearly indicated that the evidence that can be found can only be used in three criminal cases: the trial against Susana Villarán; the awarding of the Rutas de Lima project; and the advice that former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski provided to the concessionaire; they cannot be used in arbitrations,” he declared.
Carrión also clarified that there is information that cannot be accessed since it is protected by “the privileges of banking secrecy” in the United States.
As is known, in March of this year, Brookfield initiated arbitration against the Municipality of Lima for US$2.7 billion for repeated breaches of the concession contract.
This year, the commune lost two more international arbitrations and must pay US$200 million to the company. Although López Aliaga indicated at the time that he would not pay a single dollar.
Releases from Rutas de Lima were also sought, but at the time of writing this note there was no response.
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