“The government has no legal authority to sell the refinery.”

The words of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, as she accused government once more of attempting to the fool the public regarding the sale of the Petrotrin refinery to the Oilfield Workers Trade Union. 

Speaking at the UNC’s Monday night Virtual Report Persad-Bissessar, referencing a document in hand, asked government to address a claim that the sale includes not only the refinery, but Paria Trading Limited.

She also alleged that the OWTU’s 2020 bid was $200 million less than the initial $700 million offered.

“What is noteworthy in the statement, is that Patriotic offered, you’ll remember, USD$700 million for the refinery assets and USD$300 million for the non-core assets, there was no price in the bid for the Paria assets. I now have a document in my possession, as I said, with a Patriotic Energies letterhead dated October 29, 2020… it is now discovered from this document that Patriotic has now offered an upfront payment of $500 million for the assets,” she said.

She also alleged that Patriotic Energies and Technologies limited, the company owned by the OWTU,  proposed that they be exempt from paying taxes as part of their deal with Trafigura, another firm allegedly set to pay half of the  refinery bill.

“Trafigura has indicated that they will require exemptions and concessions from taxes, duties, levies; inclusive of taxes in income from Trinidad and Tobago. So, if the government cannot collect taxes from the refinery or Paria, what is the benefit to the people of Trinidad and Tobago?” she questioned. 

She called for government to hold its hand on selling State assets until the full procurement legislation is proclaimed.

“The legislation was put into place to handle like these- disposal of public property- the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” she said.

She again questioned whether government already had a buyer and was simply “kicking the can down the road” with the OWTU.

“Was Patriotic at any time told the restrictions of this sale? Are you, Rowley, taking the (OWTU) workers on a ride?” she asked.