{"id":250206,"date":"2026-04-20T07:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=250206"},"modified":"2026-04-20T09:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:33:01","slug":"jamaican-businessman-wins-us44-million-ruling-against-dominican-government-in-dc-arbitration-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/04\/20\/jamaican-businessman-wins-us44-million-ruling-against-dominican-government-in-dc-arbitration-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaican businessman wins US$44 million ruling against Dominican government in DC arbitration court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Michael Lee-Chin \/ El Nacional<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The businessman took the Dominican government to court under the Caricom Free Trade Treaty that protects investors from expropriation, unfair and inequitable treatment, arbitrary and discriminatory measures, and breaches of contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 9 April 2026, the US federal court officially denied the Dominican Republic’s motion to vacate the arbitration award. This means the state is now legally bound to pay the US$44.4 million plus interest to Michael Lee-Chin. Lee-Chin who had sought compensation for US$300 million in the arbitration court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense of the Dominican Republic has alleged several \u201cserious red flags of fraud\u201d regarding Lee-Chin\u2019s investments in Lajun and Duquesa dump site. However, the US court determined these allegations are irrelevant to the court\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority awarded Lee-Chin US$4,880,609 plus interest as damages for the FET claim and US$38,709,481 plus interest for the expropriation claim, representing compensation for his 90% shareholding interest in Lajun. The majority declined to award damages for the land itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background
The case would have never reached arbitration if officials at the State Sugar Council (CEA) or subsequently legislators had acted correctly and contested the irregularities in the documents presented as proof of ownership. For years, municipal expert Waldys Taveras had warned of the consequences of the CEA and legislators not disputing the fraudulent title of Lajun as owner of the Duquesa property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taveras frequently criticized the National Congress for its “incoherence” and failure to provide a stable legal and financial framework for waste management. The US$44 million penalty is the direct result of the botched termination of the contract with Laj\u00fan Corporation (the previous managers of Duquesa), an action that international arbitrators ruled was an “unlawful expropriation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taveras on multiple occasions, had criticized legislators as “sheep” (borregos) and that these failed in performing their oversight duties. Instead of creating a transparent, legally sound transition for the Duquesa landfill, legislators allowed the Executive Branch to proceed with a “forceful” takeover that ultimately failed to hold up in international court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taveras points out that while the government is currently spending US$110 million on the “technical closure” of Duquesa (which began in February 2026), the state is now simultaneously being forced to pay another US$44 million in fines for past mismanagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lee-Chin award is a stark reminder that sovereign actions, even when motivated by genuine environmental concerns, must be conducted within the bounds of international law. The Dominican Republic’s attempt to use “military control” and administrative nullification to solve a contract dispute proved to be a multi-million dollar mistake. This case underscores the necessity for the state to adopt more sophisticated methods of contract management and dispute resolution that do not trigger treaty violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military control occurred when Francisco Dominguez Brito was Minister of Environment, Renee Polanco was mayor of Santo Domingo North and Roberto Salcedo was Mayor of the National District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\u2019s plan for Duquesa is supported by US$110 million in loans from the IDB, JICA, and Spain and involves a five-year process to transform the 1.2-million-square-meter open-air dump into a public park. This transition is not only an environmental necessity but a social challenge, as authorities seek a transition plan for the approximately 1,000 “divers” (scavengers) who rely on the landfill for their livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:
El Nacional <\/a>
El Nacional <\/a>
Carmen Imbert interview with Waldys Jaquez <\/a>
Our Today <\/a>
Italaw <\/a>
Rumba 98.5 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

20 April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[340,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250206"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250301,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250206\/revisions\/250301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}