Cabinet overrides Supreme Court in land deal

THE CABINET  Council has approved the sale of land in Veracruz where the Intercontinental Playa Bonita Resort is located in spite of two previous Supreme Court decisions that the granting of the concession was illegal

The sale of the land was announced Monday in the Government Gazette. The council decided to sell the land to developer Herman Bern for $16.9 million.

The government faced two options, either selling the land or buying the hotel, when the Supreme Court declared a concession granted to the businessman to be illegal.

Official sources revealed that, since May, the contract for the sale has been awaiting the endorsement of the comptroller.

Minister of Economy and Finance Dulcidio De La Guardia said that when the hotel was built in 2005, the court had not issued a decision about the legality of the concession. But a complaint had been filed in 2003.

In February 2008, the Supreme Court declared null and  illegal, a resolution approving a concession contract that allowed the construction of the hotel Intercontinental Playa Bonita in Kobbe, Veracruz. Seven years later, in May 2015, a second ruling upheld the decision.

The resolution of the Cabinet, which appeared Monday, June 20 directs the sale of more than than 77,000 square meters to  Bern.

The Cabinet considered that the works Bern did on state land, despite the failures were in  “good faith”

The  recognition was made five months after Bern participated as aguest of President Varela in the award that was made on January 14 to US President Jimmy Carter, in Atlanta.

The resolution stresses that the administration considers appropriate to the interests of the nation and “in order to reach an understanding” between the parties, proceed with the sale -through exceptional procedure in order to “avoid future claims”.

It  also mentions that two of the four lots concessioned to develop ecotourism and a recreational beach project were unified in an approved plan in November 2009, creating a balloon land of more than 89,000 square meters.

But more than 11 thousand square meters were excluded, after finding they were mangroves.

Bern was involved in a similar  earlier controversy when he built the complex on Avenida Balboa which houses the Miramar Intercontinental Hotel and an apartment complex where President Juan Carlos Varela lives.