BOGOTA. Reficar’s directors said in a statement this Thursday that the arbitration ruling against CB&I and in Reficar’s favor distorts the Comptroller’s ruling against the heads of the Cartagena refinery, confirming that they “made the best decision to complete the of the project”.
“The International Court of Justice arbitration award against CB&I for more than $1 billion affirms the contractor’s responsibility for breach of obligations under the EPC contract entered into for the expansion and modernization of the Cartagena Refinery,” it reads. It.
The ruling, they add, verifies that the decisions of Reficar’s board and administration made during the construction of the project, including the budgetary additions passed under strict exchange controls, were supported and had the sole purpose of completing the largest industrial initiative in Colombia’s history.
“Following the continuous and repeated violations of CB&I, the board and administration of Reficar were always clear that the project had to be completed so as not to be left with a white elephant, and that the corresponding claims would then be made, as was done for the International Tribunal,” they say.
They also point out that the amount of the ruling for a billion dollars, equivalent to 4.2 billion pesos today that Reficar will recover, is much higher than the alleged 2.9 billion pesos tax damages set by the Comptroller General of the Nation.
“During the processes carried out in Colombia for the controlling authorities, it has always been found that the refinery was costing more than budgeted, in particular and mainly due to breaches by the contractor CB&I, in addition to unforeseen events such as the strike and winter and because the initial costs calculated by the contractor were grossly underestimated.
In fact, after more than eight years of investigating the conduct of Reficar’s board members and that of government officials related to these investigations into the increase in the budget and the extension of the project’s schedule, concluded that there was no fraudulent or culpable conduct, even in the slightest degree, verified the due diligence of all those investigated, highlighted the actions of the members of the board of directors of Reficar and government officials, excluded emphasized the existence of any act of corruption and emphasized the importance for the country to have reached the completion of that refinery, and emphasized the actions of the decision makers and the decisions that were made,” the directors emphasize .
For this reason, they conclude, the Arbitration Court’s decision should prompt the Comptroller’s Office to reconsider the “unfair” decision it made, warning that it will in any case be decisive in the legal proceedings brought by them initiated to demand annulment. of the statement.
The declaration is signed by Javier Gutiérrez, Orlando Cabrales, Carlos Bustillo, Pedro Rosales, Andrés Riera, Uriel Salazar, Magda Manosalva, Diana Calixto and Reyes Reinoso.
Source: El heraldo
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
