Patriotic calls for re

Akash Samaroo

Senior Reporter

akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt

The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union’s (OWTU) Patriotic Energies Company Limited claims the Energy Minister’s alleged document of a US$1.5B fraudulent wire transfer in the refinery bidding process in Parliament is irrelevant and is now requesting that it be considered again to operate the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

On Friday, Minister Stuart Young brandished a document in the Lower House purporting to be a wire transfer of US$1.5 billion sent to Patriotic’s accounts through a local bank.

However, he said the evaluation committee tasked with handling the sale of the refinery told the Government that the document was fake and their due diligence showed that there were no such funds in Patriotic’s account.

He claimed this was the reason Patriotic did not move on to the next round of the bidding process.

Patriotic has since responded twice to this allegation. Yesterday morning, Patriotic issued a statement with the caption, “Patriotic Energy Services Co Ltd, rejects outright the misleading statements made by the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries.”

However, instead of addressing the most direct accusation made by Young, who claimed to have a fake document purporting to be a wire transfer of the US$1.5 billion, the company instead spoke of its financial partner.

In the media release, Patriotic said the minister’s statement was misleading and mischievous, adding, “What he presented under parliamentary cover was NOT Patriotic’s financial partner that met with the Cabinet-appointed evaluation committee.”

The release added that the solely selected financier would have been submitted to the evaluation committee and Scotiabank International, which both accepted the submission.

“In fact, the Evaluation Committee would have interviewed and vetted Patriotic’s preferred financier, and at no time did Scotiabank International or the Evaluation Committee raise any concern about the preferred financier. As a matter of fact, there was some level of comfort and satisfaction with the preferred financial partner.”

Patriotic added that it did not receive any communication or indication from either the evaluation committee or Scotiabank International as to the unsuitability of its preferred financial partner.

However, Young dismissed their response.

The Energy Minister said the issue was never about a “preferred financial partner.”

“I stated, with evidence, that Patriotic Energies & Technology Co Ltd, produced a fake document purporting to be a wire transfer to a local bank for USD$1.5B. Due diligence confirmed that no such wire transfer was received by the local bank to the account of Patriotic Energies,” the minister said via WhatsApp messenger.

He said Patriotic was yet to deny what he said in Parliament.

“It is clear and obvious that Patriotic is avoiding responding to the said fake document that they submitted,” he added.

Young challenged Patriotic to answer whether there was a document submitted by them indicating a purported wire transfer of US$1.5 billion. This prompted Patriotic to respond again to the minister.

This time it sought to clarify that their initial financiers could not show proof of funds and were therefore eliminated, which paved the way for a new financier who met all the requirements of the committee.

The second media release was this time titled, “Clarification on evaluation and financial partner submissions.”

The company gave a timeline of events starting on May 10, 2024, where it said it submitted a non-binding proposal identifying three potential financiers.

Patriotic said that at a meeting on June 7, both Scotiabank International and Patriotic indicated that they were still doing their due diligence and verification to substantiate the funding capabilities of the three that were submitted.

Patriotic went on to say that it could then not substantiate the proof of funding, and they eliminated all three on August 3 and submitted a new financier to Scotiabank International for the consideration of the evaluation committee.

It said on August 21, its preferred financial partner, along with representatives of Patriotic, met with the evaluation committee and presented their financing plan, which was received without objection.

“All documentation provided was thoroughly reviewed, and no concerns were raised regarding their validity at the meeting. At no time was any of the eliminated three potential financiers submitted to the evaluation committee or brought back into the process as they did not meet Patriotic’s requirement,” Patriotic said.

Patriotic added, “Therefore, whatever document the minister was brandishing is totally irrelevant.”

The company is now saying if the so-called fraudulent document was why it was rejected, then it calls for “a reassessment of everything that was presented by our financial partner to the Cabinet-appointed committee on the 21 August 2024, as we are assured that we already adhered to all the procedures and processes required.”

The chosen bidders for the refinery were also revealed by the Finance Minister during the Budget presentation and include CRO Consortium, a Trinidad-based group made up of DR Commodities Ltd, Chemie-Tech and Ocala; US-based iNca Energy LLC; and Nigeria-based Dando PLC.

These selections were made by Scotia Capital (USA) and an evaluation committee.

Patriotic said it remains open to dialogue with the Energy Minister. The company’s second response was sent to Young for further comment late yesterday evening. However, he did not respond.

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