The Colombian government’s defense team, led by the National Agency for the Legal Defense of the State (Andje), announced its strategy last week to fight a record USD $10 billion lawsuit by a United States treasure hunting company.
The firm, Sea Search Armada (SSA), has staked a claim to a portion of the San José galleon, a more than 300-year-old shipwreck that may harbor the largest treasure trove in maritime history.
SSA says that it found the wreck in the 1980s, but Colombia disputes the accuracy of the coordinates that it provided decades ago.
With a booty valued between USD $4 billion and $20 billion, including gold coins and emerald-filled steel chests, the rights to the riches have sparked a vigorous legal battle.
The ship, which belonged to the Spanish Empire, was sunk by the British Navy in 1708 while transporting precious cargo from modern-day Panama to the port of Cartagena, Colombia.
It was not until 1981 that Glocca Mora, which later became SSA, partnered with the Colombian government to locate the wreck.
The firm claims that in 1982 it provided the coordinates of the San José galleon to the government. But the two parties could not settle on how to divide the treasure and the ship remained undisturbed on the Caribbean seabed.
Then, in 2015, the battle was reignited, when the Colombian government announced that it had discovered the wreckage independently of SSA.
The dispute between the U.S. firm and the Colombian government is now before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague.
SSA commissioned a valuation of the galleon’s treasure, estimating its worth to be between USD $7-18 billion. The firm argues that it deserves $10 billion in compensation for providing the state with the coordinates to the wreck in 1982.
But the current Colombian government is adamant that it owes nothing.
Speaking to The Bogotá Post, Andje’s Director of International Defense, Yebrail Haddad, dismissed the SSA’s claim to have found the ship.
“According to all the technical tests carried out, SSA never discovered the galleon San José, nor any other shipwreck,” said Haddad.
The top lawyer refers to research carried out by a host of maritime experts consulted on the case.
Among these is the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which the state commissioned to investigate the SSA’s claims.
The government paid Woods Hole – the United States’ largest independent oceanographic research institution – USD $1.4 million to carry out the study.
It concluded that the coordinates provided by SSA in 1982 were 10 kilometers away from the San José galleon’s real location.
Haddad told The Bogotá Post that the coordinates reported by SSA are nowhere near the actual location of the remains.”
The government hopes that this argument will persuade the court, which is expected to hand down its ruling in November or December of this year.
Haddad was adamant that the Colombian state will not compromise or agree to any sort of settlement with the U.S. company.
“For the government, a financial agreement with SSA is not an option,” said the lawyer.