AG on A&V ‘fake oil’ probe: ASK KAMLA

SHANE SUPERVILLE AND RACHAEL ESPINET

ATTORNEY General Faris Al-Rawi says Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has a lot to answer to on her allegations that A&V Oil of supplied fake oil to Petrotrin which was permitted because the lease operator’s owner Nazim Baksh was a very good friend of the prime minister.

In 2017, on a political platform, the opposition leader alleged the lease operator, contracted by Petrotrin to supply its Pointe-a-Pierre refinery with crude oil, had defrauded the company of almost TT $100 million by inflating its oil production figures.

A&V Oil defended the matter both in the courts and at arbitration, emerging victorious in the latter last week.

Al-Rawi told Newsday on Sunday, there was little he could say on the arbitration tribunal’s findings since it did not involve his office.

Instead, he called for a response from Persad-Bissessar.

He urged the media and the public to seek a response from her.

Al-Rawi said the Opposition Leader’s assertions “must not be forgotten.”

He challenged her to come forward and now provide a response to the arbiters’ ruling given her initial remarks on the issue.

“It is not lost upon me is that the Leader of the Opposition has a lot to answer now. You will recall Kamla Persad-Bissessar led the charge in this matter.

“It’s a matter that springs from the mouth of Kamla Persad-Bissessar who led a charge against the company and in fact the Prime Minister.”

“I would suggest you call Kamla and ask her of her views and ask her of the prudence of the approach she recommended.”

Speaking at the Opposition’s media briefing on Sunday, UNC MP David Lee said the Opposition took no responsibility for being the catalyst of the A&V “fake oil” scandal probe.

“We are not claiming any responsibility in that. It is outside of our remit.

“We don’t hire Petrotrin lawyers, we are not part of that decision-making process.”

He said the A&V matter was between Petrotrin and A&V, and it is on the Government to take responsibility as Petrotrin was a government-owned company.

He said what the Opposition Leader did was to raise a matter that came to her and she put it out in the public domain.

“So, all the Leader of the Opposition did, like we all did, all opposition members, is to bring to the fore information. It really is for the government of the day to take it further and be more transparent.”

A&V Oil now stands to receive the $84 million being held in escrow, to settle an unpaid invoice for crude oil it supplied and damages which are yet to be quantified but could bring the total sum owed to the operator to $1 billion.

These were the findings and decisions by arbiters Sir Dennis Byron, former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), who also served as chairman of the arbitration panel; Lord David Hope and retired Appeal Court judge Humphrey Stollmeyer, in the arbitration ruling between A&V and Petrotrin.

The three arbiters held that Petrotrin failed to establish A&V engaged in any inappropriate practices in the process of delivering crude oil and was entitled to payment.

They also held that Petrotrin did not have reasonable grounds for suspecting that A&V misconducted itself and was entitled to compensation for the wrongful termination of the agreement. The operator also stands to receive compensation for loss of earnings not beyond November 18, 2024.

Baksh, meanwhile, says he wants justice.