An arbitration court in the Dominican Republic has ordered the Dominican state to pay a million dollars in damages to a Spanish company, Azucerera Porvenir, for failure to fulfill a contract signed in September 2010, in which the State and the State Sugar Company (CEA) did not hand over 6,300 hectares that they had rented to Azucarera Porvenir in order to grow sugar cane in San Pedro de Macoris.
This is the second conviction in a few months where the arbitration court has found against the Dominican state in favor of Spanish companies, and although this judgment is definitive, obligatory and non-appealable by both parties, lawyers representing the CEA say they will challenge the ruling.
The Spanish company complained that in March 2011 the CEA took back half of the 6,300 hectares that they had rented and handed them over to the local construction company Castelar, which is part of the Vicini-Campollo group, one of the main sugar producing companies in the country, and to Nacari Investments.
They also complained that the land had been occupied by military personnel and security people from Castelar who burnt the crops and caused other types of damage to prevent their workers from getting to the plantation. The conflict also was responsible for two deaths and four people were injured in July 2011 and March 2012.
Both parties have been to court before to try and resolve their differences and the president of Azucarera Porvenir, Joaquin Martin Montero, wrote to the Attorney General in April accusing the CEA and the Vicini Campollo group of being protected due to their power and position.
In May, the company accused the CEA of preventing them from harvesting the sugar cane that lost them more that US$3.8 million and meant they had to lay off 800 workers.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2012/11/12/i359338_estado-dominicano-condenado-pagar-us1-millon-una-empresa-espanola.html