Advertisement

The Philippines may sue Westinghouse Electric Corp....

Share via

The Philippines may sue Westinghouse Electric Corp. to recover government funds spent on a controversial nuclear plant if a dispute with the U.S. firm is not settled by year-end, a Philippine senator said.

“We are hopeful that Westinghouse will agree to a formula where a neutral audit team will work on some of the problems that have divided us,” Sen. Rene Saguisag said, adding that if a lawsuit became necessary it would be filed early next year.

The 600-megawatt, $2.3-billion plant was mothballed by President Corazon Aquino when she took office in February, 1986.

Advertisement

Amid mounting protests over the plant’s cost and safety and charges that its construction involved the payment of kickbacks to Philippine officials, Aquino said she would try to get the contract with Westinghouse rescinded.

Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse has said that U.S. agencies investigated the allegations but brought no charges of wrongdoing.

Advertisement