Guadalajara, Jal. The Mexican government must sue the Spanish company Abengoa for the failed El Zapotillo dam project that is still unfinished in the Los Altos de Jalisco region, and which was supposed to supply water to the metropolitan area of Guadalajara and the city of León, Guanajuato, said Ricardo Sheffield, head of the Federal Consumer Prosecutor’s Office (Profeco).
“I do invite the government of Mexico to sue Abengoa at the ICSID (International Center for Settlement of Disputes); that we release this modality of governments suing companies, because today it turns out that companies are more corrupt than the government, “he said during the presentation of his book From lovelessness to love, the relationship between Mexico and ICSID.
“I believe that tomorrow, ICSID may be the great regulator of the rights of states against large capitals that are more powerful than the states themselves,” said Sheffield, within the framework of the International Book Fair (FIL ) from Guadalajara.
In 2011, after he won the international tender for the construction of the aqueduct El Zapotillo-León, the Spanish firm Abengoa obtained a 25-year concession to transfer water from Jalisco to León, Guanajuato, in addition to other works such as a water treatment plant and pumping plants.
However, the economic debacle that the Hispanic company was facing at that time, prevented it from even starting the works, so in 2017 it renounced the concession.
However, its subsidiary, Concessionaire of El Zapotillo Aqueduct, maintained the concession and, despite the fact that it did not carry out any work, demanded compensation of 5,000 million pesos from the National Water Commission on the grounds that it did not comply with the release of land to build the aqueduct.
“In many countries they say that the government is corrupt, but there are companies that are more corrupt than the most corrupt of governments. And that is something that I am sure will be ventilating a lot, especially with the transnational movement that capital has, “he said.
“The great capitals of the world cannot be immune, it is good that they do not have nationality or that they adopt the nationality that fiscally suits them best, but that does not make them untouchable,” said the also doctor in Law and head of the Federal Consumer Prosecutor’s Office (Profeco).
ICSID is the forum for the settlement of investor-state disputes in most international investment treaties, as well as in numerous investment contracts and legislation.
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx