Paraguayan Petroleum (Petropar) ratified this week that it will no longer grant further extensions to the Qatari firm Doha Holding Group LLClinked to Alejandro Domínguez Pérezwhich has not complied for more than a year and a half with the provision of diesel for some US$61 million.
The state company will begin the rescission of the contract before April 30, the date on which the tenth extensionand will enforce the warranty for more than US$3,050,000 of the Continental BankAs confirmed this week by the president of the oil company, William Wilka.
The Qatari company presented this guarantee only on December 29 last year, since its original guarantee was a simple sworn declaration. In that document, the banking entity was established as guarantor in favor of Petropar and on behalf of the foreign firm for the aforementioned amount.
“We force ourselves to pay to the contracting party, against its written request stating that the supplier does notor has fulfilled any obligation established in the contract, without arguments or objections, any sum within the limits of US$3,050,000without the need for the contracting party to prove or accredit the reasons that support the claim,” states the bond of the Continental Bank.
Petropar still does not recover guarantees from other failed purchases of the Jara era
However, even though the warranty presented by Doha is a simple requestthere are doubts that the state company will be able to make the payment. Until now it has not been able to recover the guarantees of other failed purchases during the management of Eddie Jaraas in the cases of the company AP SAlinked to the rally racer Andrea Lafarja Bittarand the Emirati firm Evolution Group FZ LLCboth prosecuted.
In the case of Lafarja, Petropar sued before a civil and commercial court in the capital AP SA to collect the US$1.5 million corresponding to the guarantee of supply maintenance of the failed purchase of 70,500 cubic meters of diesel, for a maximum value of US$51.5 million.
The contract was terminated because AP SA He did not present the guarantee of faithful performance nor did he deliver the fuel. Consequently, it was necessary to execute the offer maintenance guaranteepresented in the form of a sworn declaration, through which the company undertook to pay without objection in the event of non-compliance.
Read more: Petropar is already preparing termination with a Qatari firm, says head of the state company
The file has been in the file since December 2023. civil and commercial court of the second shift of the capital, which on February 13, 2024 admitted the demand. Since then, the process remains without resolution.
As the case progressed, Lafarja presented a settlement proposal to the court, in which it offered to pay only US$150,000 in ten installments, which was rejected by Petropar. This approach came after the company tried to take the case to arbitration, alleging the judge’s incompetence.
In this context, the court decided to maintain the jurisdiction of the ordinary justice system and rejected the request for AP SA to submit the controversy to arbitration. Subsequently, the firm appealed to the Civil and Commercial Court of Appeal of Asunción, but last month withdrew the appeal.
“On March 20, the appeals and annulment appeals before the Courtwhich must be issued on that request and return the file to the first instance,” explained the interim judge of the case, Diego Alejandro Torres Sandoval.
Read more: Petropar rejected the payment proposal made by Lafarja’s signature before a Court
He also did not recover the Emirati signature guarantee
Petropar nor was he able to recover the guarantee of faithful performance of the company Evolution Group FZ LLCfrom the United Arab Emirates, which was to provide up to 40,000 cubic meters of diesel by US$24 millionbut breached the contract.
Despite the rescissionthe state company could not collect the guarantee, backed by a policy from the Tajy Insurance Company for US$1,204,652according to official documents. The case is also being prosecuted, because the insurer offered to pay a lower amount to the established.
Specifically, the company offered US$20,000when the bond had to cover the entirety of US$1,204,652equivalent to 5% of the maximum contract amount. “The claim for payment of the corresponding guarantee was made and the response from the Tajy SA Insurance Company It was an offer lower than that expected as a guarantee of faithful compliance. This offer was formalized through a judicial action of dation in payment, upon which Petropar “It is in the process of answering and counterclaiming,” the state company reported at the time.
Read more: Failed diesel purchase: Petropar still does not collect policy from unknown Emirati firm
Petropar alleges that Qatari firm shows commitment to pay guarantee
However, the president of Petropar, William Wilkamaintained that in the case of the Qatari firm they do not foresee any problems in collecting the guarantee. He explained that although the process originally did not require warrantybut only one sworn declarationthe Qatari firm later presented a bank guarantee “as a sign of commitment.”
“This process did not require a guarantee, only sworn declaration. They presented the bank guarantee as a commitment to honor the contract and in good faith. Now, regarding the bank’s payment, we do not see any objection because it is a bank in the first place. request”, he stated.
Wilka also differentiated this case from previous breaches, pointing out that in the failed operations of AP SA and Evolution Group The guarantees were not bank guarantees. “The other cases were sworn declaration and insurance policy (non-banking),” he indicated.
