Opposition Senator Wade Mark in Senate is calling on the Government to conduct a criminal forensic investigation into the three companies that were shortlisted to purchase or lease the former state-owned Petrotrin refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre.
During his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate yesterday, Mark said that the Opposition conducted its own investigations into the three companies—CRO Consortium, INCA Energy LLC and Oando PLC.
“When we checked the registry to get information on these companies, we realised that CRO Consortium is made up of three locally incorporated companies —one called Ocala, the other one is DR Commodities Limited and the other one is Chemie-Tech. What we found interesting is that when we did a search for CRO Consortium, it yielded no results,” Mark said.
“It means that there is no CRO Consortium legally incorporated under the laws of Trinidad and Tobago. And therefore the question must be asked if this company is not legally incorporated under the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, how come this company was short-listed by the Cabinet of the Government of the honourable Prime Minister?” he questioned.
He added, “You know the DR Commodities was formally DR Logistics, but when you check DR Commodities, it is the parent company of this local company but it is based in India. And when we checked the Indian company, we realised on the board of directors were two associates and family members of Jindal.”
“That is what we are seeing, two members of the Jindal family on the board of directors of the parent company called DR Commodities,” he said.
He also said that “Ocala is a Venezuelan company engaging in oil and gas. It’s a holdings company that is sanctioned by the United States. How come this Government is short-listing a company that is sanctioned by the United States to take over Point-a-Pierre refinery?
“We want the Government to scrap that entire project. It is too corrupt and the Government must answer. In fact, we need a criminal forensic investigation into this entire transaction.”
Background
On June 17, Indian businessman Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, met with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
Jindal had been invited to submit a bid for the purchase for the Petrotrin Refinery.
He expressed that he was interested and would consider submitting his proposal by July 31.
Subsequent to that meeting, a link to a Forbes news story dated June 12, 2013 began circulating on social media.
According to the article, “India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against Jindal and former coal minister Dasari Narayan Rao for allegedly misallocating mining rights.”
It also stated that Jindal was at that time the head of Jindal Steel and Power and a member of parliament with the ruling Congress Party.
The Forbes report said the federal investigator booked Jindal for what it claims were kickbacks paid by him to the ex-minister, in exchange for being granted mining rights for coal.
It was alleged that a year after Jindal’s firm secured a coal bloc in the eastern state of Jharkhand, it invested US$430,000—the alleged payoff—in a company owned by Rao, who was coal minister between 2004 and 2008 when the mines were allocated.
The Opposition then questioned Rowley and the Government about the legitimacy of the businessman they had invited to conduct business in the country.
On July 26, Jindal sent a letter to Rowley stating that he was no longer interested in investing in Trinidad and Tobago.
Jindal cited the behaviour exhibited by the Opposition for his decision.