🚢Military and defence· 2023-2026
Cardama: the ocean patrol ship contract ended in termination
Uruguay contracted two patrol vessels for €82 million, paid almost €29 million and terminated the deal: the guarantee submitted was, according to the State, fake. The company denies it.
Figure published by the sources
82 millones de euros el contrato; 28.794.500 euros pagados; más de US$ 35 millones reclamados en la demanda civil
Bodies involved
Ministerio de Defensa Nacional · Armada Nacional
What it is
In December 2023, under President Luis Lacalle Pou and with Javier García heading the Ministry of National Defence, Uruguay signed a contract with Spanish shipyard Cardama to build two ocean patrol vessels (OPVs) for the Navy for €82 million, according to Infodefensa and Infobae. The contract required a performance guarantee equal to 5% of the amount. Uruguay paid against construction milestones: €28,794,500, according to the civil suit the State filed in August 2026 and reported by Caras y Caretas.
What is questioned
On 22 October 2025 the Presidency announced that Yamandú Orsi's government would terminate the contract and file criminal complaints over "strong indications" of fraud or swindle against the State. According to that statement, the company took eleven months just to lodge the guarantees, and the guarantee — which was meant to cover 42 months — ran for barely a year; Presidency deputy secretary Jorge Díaz described the guarantor Eurocommerce as "a paper company" and said its registered address housed a real-estate business belonging to a Russian citizen. The termination became final in February 2026 and Cardama did not challenge it, according to MercoPress, which quoted Díaz: "The administrative act of terminating the contract was not appealed by the shipyard; the termination is final." In August 2026 the State filed a civil suit: it claims back the €28,794,500 paid, €18,099,400 for two years of lost naval surveillance, and legal and expert costs, according to Caras y Caretas; Infodefensa put the claim at more than US$35 million. Businessman Mario Cardama said he bought the guarantee in good faith and that, if the issuer does not respond, "the fraud is against his company and not against Uruguay"; he filed a criminal complaint against Eurocommerce — dissolved by the UK government in November 2025 — and, according to Infodefensa, MP Gabriel Gianoli circulated documentation from the Valencia Notarial College backing the signature the State considers forged.
Why it matters to you
That is almost €29 million already paid for two ships that never arrived, plus the cost of buying patrol vessels all over again. Every year of delay is a year without effective control over illegal fishing and smuggling in the exclusive economic zone, and the bill is paid out of general revenue.
Where it stands
As this file closes (August 2026) three fronts are open and none has a ruling. The Executive's criminal complaint, which according to Infodefensa names former ministers Javier García and Armando Castaingdebat, former secretariat director Fabián Martínez and former financial resources head Damián Galó: none has been charged or convicted. The civil suit for more than US$35 million, filed in early August 2026 and assigned, according to Caras y Caretas, to the 9th Civil Court under judge Alejandro Recarey. And an international arbitration that Cardama brought before the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.
This money does not travel through state procurement
The contract-by-contract cross-reference is not available for this file. The money is executed through a channel the public-procurement open data does not record, so putting a total here would be inventing it. The cited sources are, for now, the only public quantification.
Where it goes instead
Public-private partnerships (PPP), trusts, state-to-state contracts, direct agreements, or a state company's own budget. None of those channels publish their awards on the Compras Estatales portal.
The contract ran as an international purchase in euros from a foreign shipyard, outside the usual Compras Estatales channel, so it is unlikely to appear in full in the open-data feed. What can be traced there are the Ministry of National Defence's related expenses.
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