COP leader: Gov't looking to legitimise Paria Trading

Congress of the People (COP) political leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan has described the Miscellaneous Provisions (Petroleum, Petroleum Production Levy and Subsidy and Income Tax) Bill, 2019 as an attempt by the PNM administration to “legitimise” the operations of Paria Trading Company, six months after the closure of Petrotrin.

In a media release, the former energy minister said almost eight months ago, the Government was warned that, in accordance with the Production Levy and Subsidy Act, the fuel subsidy could “not be determined and paid on the basis of the price of imported fuel.

“The act specifically speaks to an ex-refinery price which is determined by a prescribed method set out in the law and is one of the inputs into the formula used to compute the subsidy also set out in the law. Therefore, the Government may wish to inform the nation as to how subsidy payments to Paria were being disbursed out of the public purse when there was no legal basis for so doing. “She said the petroleum production levy, which is charged to each crude oil producer and deposited in the subsidy fund, did not have any legal basis for its computation and is “either lost to the State or illegally obtained.”

She said the Petroleum Act also governs various operations including exploration, production, refining, marketing wholesale, retail, distribution and storage, and wondered which regime has been granted to Paria and what were the terms and conditions of that licence. She said none of the existing regimes governs the type of business undertaken by Paria, which is primarily involved in the trading business.