An international tribunal has ruled in favor of the Costa Rican government in a legal process in which US investors denounced arbitrary actions in the development of a real estate project in Esterillos beach.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade:
San Jose.On September 19, 2018, the Government of Costa Rica was notified by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the decision adopted by the Arbitral Tribunal in the case of David Richard Aven et al.c.Costa Rica (known as "Las Olas").This arbitration was filed by a group of US investors in 2014, under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
The Public Prosecutor has initiated criminal proceedings against representatives of the spanish chain RIU for alleged environmental damages generated in the construction area of the hotel it operates in Guanacaste.
Representatives of the hotel company state that all logging jobs in the area where the hotel was built in Matapalo beach, were performed with possession of permits issued at the time by the institutions.
A group of U.S. investors is suing the state for $70 million alleging violation of DR-CAFTA preventing the development of real estate project Las Olas in Puntarenas.
The lawsuit filed with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) by a group of investors led by David Richard Aven notes that "... national authorities treated them unfairly, in relation to a real estate development project in the Esterillos beach area in the Central Pacific. They also claim that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with their country was violated. "