Reuters
New York, Mar 19: A US federal judge has awarded New York City nearly $58 million in its bid to collect unpaid property taxes from three foreign governments on portions of their buildings that house diplomatic missions.
India, Mongolia and the Philippines owed the city unpaid taxes plus interest, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled late on Monday.
India was ordered to pay $42.5 million and Mongolia $4.4 million for the areas they used as staff residences.
The Philippines was ordered to pay $10.9 million for portions of property used as a restaurant, bank and airline office.
The city first sued the missions in 2003. The countries had argued that local courts lacked jurisdiction to hear the case as diplomatic immunity protected them from the lawsuit. But the US Supreme Court rejected their claims last June and sent the case back to US District Court in Manhattan.