DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

Michael Lee-Chin / El Nacional

The Dominican government could still appeal, yet this month a US court confirmed a previous sentence and awarded around US$44 million to Jamaican businessman Michael Lee-Chin after the government takeover of the Duquesa garbage dump, El Nacional reports. The judge determined his ownership of the property had been violated.

The multi-million dollar consequence resulted from the lack of action by Dominican legislators and officials to determine the fraud of the title. If the government had acted to dispute the ownership, the businessman would have had to sue who sold him the fraudulent title and not the Dominican government. The businessman had bought Lajun company that claims it is the owner of the land where the dump site for garbage in Greater Santo Domingo is located.

The businessman took the Dominican government to court under the Caricom Free Trade...