Roget: No Govt funds for Patriotic

OWTU head Ancel Roget said Patriotic Energies and Technologies will not get any government money in its bid to restart the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, at the Patriotic logo launch at the Radisson Hotel, Port-of-Spain on Friday. Apart from the US$700 million bid to buy the refinery, Newsday asked if the millions of dollars needed to restart it from its mothballed state would come from government, investors or bonds/shares sold to the public.

With the OWTU as the preferred bidder, Roget said its business plan, now under consideration by the Government, includes details of its financiers.

While non-disclosure agreements ban him from publicly naming the backers, he assured the proposal was "lawful, legitimate and legal."

Roget said the union has not asked for, not been offered nor negotiated for any financial assistance from the Government.

He then assured OWTU members that they still have a union, which was now simply stepping over from the technical side to the financial side of running a refinery.

In his earlier address, Roget said Patriotic will hire the best people globally to run the business of the refinery. He would not become CEO, he said.

No local business people or bankers had bid on the refinery, he said, just the union now trying to retain the assets in the hands of the people of TT.

"The OWTU, as shareholder, is not for the benefit of the OWTU. We entered that costly, time-consuming and very challenging activity for the benefit of all citizens."

Referencing a video clip that paid tribute to the union's past leaders, he said today the OWTU stands on the shoulders of giants and so can see further ahead than most people.

It was the highest form of patriotism for the union to spend millions of dollars on the refinery venture in the face of declining energy-sector revenues.

He was confident the union's business plan had met the ten points required by Finance Minister Colm Imbert and it was just a matter of time before their bid was formally accepted.

"Absolutely nobody in this country or the world gave us any favour, no government and no opposition. We fought for it and deserve it. We would have won the bid with flying colours in the name of TT."

He vowed Patriotic will have no political interference, corruption or mismanagement. Roget said Patriotic has been properly incorporated as a company, naming two OWTU executive officials as directors, including trustee Ozzie Warwick.