Warwick: Heritage CEO salary obscene

RICHARDSON DHALAI AND CARLA BRIDGLAL

OWTU chief education and research officer Ozzi Warwick has described the salary of Heritage Petroleum Company CEO Mike Wylie as “obscene” and a “contradiction” as its predecessor company Petrotrin was shut down due to financial losses.

“It is a contradiction and they are not consistent. It is obscene and really a slap in the face for the Petrotrin workers who they said could not retain due to problems at the refinery.”

During Friday’s parliamentary sitting, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the new CEO is receiving a salary of US$450,000 annually or about TT $240,000 per month.

Rowley said Wylie’s remuneration was based given the nature of the assignment, international benchmarking and the running of an oil company of that size.

However, in an interview yesterday, Warwick said the remuneration package did not surprise him given the ruling party’s track record regarding Petrotrin.

“I think at this point nothing this Government does surprises me.”

And regarding the ongoing matter being heard at the Industrial Court, he said this was due to continue on Tuesday with the OWTU’s legal team expected to continue their examination of the Ministry of Finance’s permanent secretary Vishnu Dhanpaul.

He said Tuesday may be the last day as lawyers were also expected to present their final submissions before the court.

“And then we wait for the judgement. We don’t known when the quorum will deliver judgement.”

Former energy minister Kevin Ramnarine was measured in his assessment of Wiley’s compensation. “The salary seems to be significantly more than what (previous Petrotrin heads) Kenneth Allum, Khalid Hassanali and Fitzroy Harewood were paid and they had a lot more to oversee including running a refinery,” he said. Ramnarine said he couldn’t say much more, because he hadn’t seen Wiley’s qualifications, but pointed out that Trinmar– Petrotrin’s marine assets, expected to be a key component of Heritage’s assets– has been in “precipitous decline and this should concern everyone.”

Sunday Newsday also contacted Energy Chamber CEO, Dr Thackwray Driver, who declined to comment, saying it was the chamber’s position not to comment on individual appointments.