judicial

AG wants case thrown out

The government is claiming that a lawsuit filed by developer Grupo F is not valid.

Carlos Lemos/la prensa

disputed: Grupo F’s Amador project has the government upset. 1133487

The government has asked the Supreme Court to reject a $261 million claim filed by developer Grupo F International because it was not filed in a timely manner.

Nelson Rojas, an official in the Attorney General's Office, said that, in the government's view, Grupo F International had until December 2005 to present its claim. That is a year after the company received a written complaint about its activities from the Panama Maritime Authority.

Under civil law, there is a one-year deadline for such claims to be filed.

This argument is contained in the appeal that Rojas submitted to the Supreme Court in October in response to the demand for direct redress the Grupo F Director Jean Figali filed against the state.

Group F sued for damages allegedly caused by the poor service it received from the maritime agency, with whom the company has two concession contracts.

For two years, the maritime agency has been ordering Grupo F to suspend the work on its concessions in Amador because they violate the agreement between the two entities as well as the environmental impact study that was approved for the project.

While the original concessions were for 8.7 hectares, the actual area being developed by Grupo F has been estimated at 17 hectares.

The company managed to stave off that order by bringing a warning of unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court. It also received a court order that prevented the maritime agency from rescinding the concessions.

The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the appeals filed by Grupo F.

The developer is also engaged in several other disputes with government agencies regarding the way it has handled the Amador project.