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Spanish shipyard wants to build OPVs for Uruguay
Cardama wants the deal to be completed
Mario Cardama, owner of the Spanish shipyard responsible for building two Ocean Patrol Vessels (OPV) for Uruguay, whose contract was canceled by Montevideo, insists that there was a “fraud” against his company, although he admitted a problem with the guarantees. He found the bank supporting the transaction – EuroCommerce Limited – questionable, to say the least.
The Uruguayan government terminated an 82 million euro contract with the Spanish shipyard Francisco Cardama SA for the construction of two ocean patrol vessels (OPV) after the discovery of alleged irregularities in the 4.1 million euro bond issued by the British company EuroCommerce Limited. Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi described the situation as an alleged “fraud” or “coup”. The owner of the shipyard denied any intention of fraud and stated that his company was also a victim.
“If the Uruguayan government says I deceived them, no, in fact, we are all deceived, if it is their fault,” Cardama argued. “EuroCommerce Bank deceived me; they gave me a guarantee when they lost the ability to give it. If they are in liquidation, they cannot give me a guarantee. I have already formally demanded that they tell me what happened.”
The Uruguayan ambassador to the United Kingdom, Luis Bermúdez, tried to execute the guarantee at the address previously associated with EuroCommerce, but instead of a bank he found a real estate agency. Cardama provided a new address according to the bank’s website. It is a multifunctional building that houses thousands of other businesses. The EuroCommerce website uses a stock image of a Canadian financial institution.
In the midst of all these irregularities, Cardama argued that its subsequent agreement with EuroCommerce was completely independent and stated that it was unreasonable to have to verify the ultimate ownership of a bank.
“I give 40, 50 or 60 guarantees a year. It’s normal. It wouldn’t occur to me to call Santander to ask who the owner is”, he explained. Despite the irregularities, Cardama presses for the contract to be fulfilled, arguing that the guarantee is “an additional issue to the contract”.
“Our contract is not a guarantee; it consists of building two ships and delivering them for 82 million euros”, he declared, proposing an alternative solution: “If this ancillary, administrative issue is wrong, the logical thing is to call me and tell me: ‘Mr Cardama, this is failing, how are we going to resolve it?’