9/23/2014
SAN JUAN – The Puerto Rican Treasury is refusing to pay $229.9 million to Doral Bank in a dispute that has taken the two parties to court in a trial that will continue this coming week.
Court proceedings will resume on Monday with the testimony of Enrique Ubarri, legal advisor to the San Juan-based bank, after last week the Justice Department said that the Puerto Rican government does not owe the bank a $230 million tax refund.
Attorney Claudia Juan, who represents the U.S. commonwealth, said in her testimony that the amount in question is a loan that can be amortized but not an amount that must be repaid.
The dispute goes back to an agreement signed by the two parties in 2012 according to which Doral, the island’s second-largest mortgage lender, restated its financial results from 1998 to 2004. The lender wants to recover what it says is an excess tax payment made on overstated earnings.
The government, however, says that the amount is incorrect and unilaterally annulled the agreement last May.
The case is being heard by Judge Laureana Perez in San Juan Superior Court after bilateral negotiations to resolve the matter broke down.
Doral’s chief legal counsel in the dispute, Matthew McGill, said in a communique that during court proceedings last week, the island’s treasury department was unable to prove its claim that the agreement was fraudulent.
“When this case comes to its conclusion, the people of Puerto Rico will have the chance to evaluate if they were well-served by this government in the face of the baseless attack against one of the few remaining banks in Puerto Rico,” he said.
In May, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York instructed Doral to write off the refund as a loss on its balance sheet after the island’s treasury department ruled that the bank wasn’t entitled to payment.
source
SAN JUAN – The Puerto Rican Treasury is refusing to pay $229.9 million to Doral Bank in a dispute that has taken the two parties to court in a trial that will continue this coming week.Court proceedings will resume on Monday with the testimony of Enrique Ubarri, legal advisor to the San Juan-based bank, after last week the Justice Department said that the Puerto Rican government does not owe the bank a $230 million tax refund.
Attorney Claudia Juan, who represents the U.S. commonwealth, said in her testimony that the amount in question is a loan that can be amortized but not an amount that must be repaid.
The dispute goes back to an agreement signed by the two parties in 2012 according to which Doral, the island’s second-largest mortgage lender, restated its financial results from 1998 to 2004. The lender wants to recover what it says is an excess tax payment made on overstated earnings.
The government, however, says that the amount is incorrect and unilaterally annulled the agreement last May.
The case is being heard by Judge Laureana Perez in San Juan Superior Court after bilateral negotiations to resolve the matter broke down.
Doral’s chief legal counsel in the dispute, Matthew McGill, said in a communique that during court proceedings last week, the island’s treasury department was unable to prove its claim that the agreement was fraudulent.
“When this case comes to its conclusion, the people of Puerto Rico will have the chance to evaluate if they were well-served by this government in the face of the baseless attack against one of the few remaining banks in Puerto Rico,” he said.
In May, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York instructed Doral to write off the refund as a loss on its balance sheet after the island’s treasury department ruled that the bank wasn’t entitled to payment.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment