Legal advisors to the Dominican government and the Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE), the state electricity utility, will be in Mexico, for the 5-6 March hearing of the case of CDE vs. Smith-Enron, a private energy supplier. The Dominican government is contesting the legality of the contract and cites that the nation is not obliged to honor the contract because the latter was not sanctioned by Congress as established by the Constitution for international obligations of the state. The CDE and the government will concur at the arbitrage court of the International Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. The CDE will contest the obligation of the CDE to pay for 185 megawatts irregardless of whether or not Smith-Enron supplies the energy. According to Hoy newspaper, Smith Enron has billed for 100%, but only supplied 70% of its total generation capacity in 1996, and 83.6% in 1997. The general manager of the CDE, Temístocles Montas, has insisted that that contract was written up in the National Palace (Presidency) and that the general manager of the CDE at the time was instructed to sign just as a formality. The CDE is represented in the arbitration by lawyer Filiberto Agusti of the Washington, D.C. law firm Steptoe and Johnson and by Dominican lawyers Valentin Ramos of Ramos y Calzada; Jorge Guerrero of Markovitch & Guerrero; and Dr. Ramon Tapia Espinal.
