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Spanish law firm seeks million-dollar compensation from Maduro over Caracas

Spanish law firm seeks million-dollar compensation from Maduro over Caracas

allegedly has an office in this building. We are talking about the same leader who caused a diplomatic incident in January 2020 in Spain when it was revealed that she landed at Barajas airport in Madrid and, despite being banned from entering the EU, may have met with then Minister Jose Luis Abalos.

The claim is worth 116 million dollars and the Spanish law firm is relying on the Investment Promotion and Protection Treaty signed between the Bolivarian Republic and the Government of Barbados in 1994 to give the responsible Venezuelan officials a three-month deadline before subjecting the matter to arbitration. The procedure will be conducted on the basis of the rules established by the Commission of the Organization''United Nations on International Commercial Law.

The lawsuit comes from Bottlenose Investments Limited, a company incorporated and located in Barbados, a jurisdiction that protects the identity of shareholders. The notice of dispute, with confirmation of receipt from the Ministry of People's Power for External Affairs, to which EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA had access, is dated October 20 and is addressed to four Venezuelan decision-makers: President Nicolás Maduro, Foreign Minister Iván Gil Pinto, Vice President Rodríguez and Attorney General of the Republic Reynaldo Enrique Muñoz.

The document summarizes the situation, emphasizing that Bottlenose acquired ownership of the Epsilon Tower in December 2008 and January 2009. As''stated in the notice, these rights are established for a total area of 5,529 square meters of offices, 1,182 square meters of commercial space and 280 parking spaces in the Epsilon Tower.

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The building, located in the El Rosal Urbanization in the municipality of Chacao in Caracas, was built by a civic association whose members acquired ownership of the various spaces through the purchase of shares.

46.14% of the shares were acquired by Compañía Nacional Anónima de Seguros La Previsora, which sold "all of its ownership rights" to Bottlenose in January 2009. However, over the next year, the Venezuelan government issued a series of decrees that culminated in the confiscation of La Previsora and the declaration of the 'public and social utility' of all its shares and properties, 'including illegally including''Epsilon Tower building' in complete disregard of Bottlenose's property rights, according to the plaintiffs.

They also tried to sell the building to a third party, Santa Bárbara Airlines, leading to a lawsuit that ended with the termination of the sale agreement in 2014. According to the claimants, compensation for damages and losses suffered as a result of their investment in Venezuela by the Barbados-based company cannot be lower than the value of the title at the time of the forfeiture, which the claimant party estimates to be at least $116 million.

The lawsuit states that the measures taken by the Maduro government to the detriment of the company are a serious violation of the current Investment Treaty between the two countries and international law, to'The notice ends with a request for an "amicable agreement", although in the absence of such, the company will initiate an arbitration procedure entrusted to a Spanish lawyer, an expert in this field. The notice ends with a request for an "amicable agreement", although if there is none, the company will initiate an arbitration procedure entrusted to a Spanish lawyer, an expert in this field. Lawyer Bernardo Cremades was already involved in 2018 in a million-dollar lawsuit filed by the alleged heirs of Sultan Jolo, of Filipino origin, against Malaysia for breach of a natural resources lease agreement signed in 1878 regarding certain territories that are now part of that Asian country.

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