TPHL: Document shows no transfer of US$ by Patriotic Energy

THE Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL) says it is seeking legal advice about a document detailing an apparently falsified wire transfer submitted by Patriotic Energy Services Company Ltd in its bid for the mothballed Petrotrin refinery.

In a press release on October 8, TPHL said it has the document, submitted by the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU)-owned Patriotic Energy Services Company Ltd.

TPHL said the document names "Patriotic Energies and Technology Co Ltd" as the beneficiary of a US$1.5 billion wire transfer.

"Information to hand suggests that there was no such transfer. Accordingly, the said document has been referred to the company's legal advisers and the relevant authorities for advice, including whether any offence has been committed, and thereafter, to take whatever further action may be warranted," TPHL said.

On October 4, Energy Minister Stuart Young, during the budget debate in Parliament, said Patriotic had submitted a fake document in its bid for the mothballed Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

Young said this was the reason the bid was unsuccessful.

He produced what he said was a document Patriotic submitted as part of its second bid to acquire the refinery in 2018-2019.

He said the document, which showed Patriotic had submitted a payment of US$1.5 billion to a local bank, as proof that it had the financial capability to acquire and run the refinery, seemed to be fraudulent.

In response, Patriotic, in a statement on October 5, said Young's statements were misleading. The company said the document Young referred to did not come from its financial partner.

"The solely selected financier would have been submitted to the (Cabinet-appointed) evaluation committee and Scotiabank International which both accepted our preferred financier," Patriotic said.

The refinery was closed in November 2018, when Petrotrin was restructured into Trinidad Holdings Petroleum Ltd.

During the budget debate, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said Scotiabank and the evaluation committee will consider proposals from a locally-based consortium, an American-based company and a Nigerian-based company for sale or lease of the refinery.