Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine says he is unsure whether anyone will face criminal charges despite allegations of corruption having surfaced in the controversial South-West Soldado developmental project deal.
Speaking to reporters at a signing ceremony for the establishment of a natural gas-to-petrochemicals project at La Brea on Friday, Ramnarine said he was unaware of the details of the alleged illicit transactions and only became aware of it following a newspaper investigation.
“I am very concerned about the allegations which were raised but you know that we cannot take action based on what is written in the newspaper. We have to do our own internal investigations,” Ramnarine said.
Saying Petrotrin had already initiated a probe, Ramnarine explained that the State-owned company is already moving apace to recover the money. He added that he was awaiting the outcome of the investigation into allegations that Petrotrin breached its own rules and contract requirements and paid an upfront commissioning fee of US$1.25 million (TT$7.94 million) to Mexican shipping firm Maritima de Ecologia SA de CV (also known as Marecsa).
Denying that it was he who raised the matter with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Ramnarine added, “The first time we all became aware of the issue of the transfer of the money was when we read it in the newspaper.
Since then Petrotrin has been doing its own internal checks.
“I would say Petrotrin has taken efforts to recover that money from Maresca. They have taken action through legal routes and through diplomatic routes. They have written to the Mexican authorities and made a call through the bond with Bankers Insurance, so Petrotrin has been going about trying to recover its money from that $1.25 million and doing its investigations to determine whether the allegations being raised have any foundation.”
It is alleged that a senior Petrotrin official pushed through the deal and within weeks of the disputed August 29, 2012, Petrotrin payout, US$750,000 of the US$1.25 million upfront commission was paid into a Houston bank account in Texas, USA, in the name of Membersource Credit Union, and was allegedly transferred to two private bank accounts at the Ellerslie Plaza branch of Scotiabank.