Highlights of the Opposition Leader’s Contribution to the Deabte on Petrotrin
I remember a song by David Rudder who sang about Trinidad being the land of oil and music. And let us remember – that very same oil is where we got the steelpan – the only acoustic instrument to be developed in the world in the last century. And here we are today basically slaughtering the land of oil. It is a time where we must stand up and face the music.
It struck me how out of touch this Government is, when the Head of the Government is totally out of touch with reality. Trinidad is not a real place. Because if it were I am sure he would have consulted with the Member for Point Fortin before he told this Parliament that we have a brand new hospital in Point Fortin. Nothing is further from the truth! There is a hospital that we started which is still under construction, so it is not a brand-new hospital with how many beds. If there were beds inside there they would all be water soaked by now.
The Member for San Fernando West talks about people intellectually lazy. Well I want to say to him – leave Senator Saddam alone and they should revoke your law degree and revoke your appointment as Attorney General because you are the mastermind, the drafter of this Bill that is before us. And you cannot even do that effectively.
THE MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS (HERITAGE PETROLEUM, PARIA FUEL TRADING AND GUARACARA REFINING VESTING) BILL, 2018:
“WHEREAS Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (hereinafter referred to as “PETROTRIN”), a company incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago and registered under the Companies Act, Chap. 81:01, has agreed to transfer all of the assets relative to its exploration and production operations to Heritage Petroleum Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Heritage Petroleum”), a company incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago:
When did Petrotrin decide this?
Why on the face of your Bill you are telling an untruth?
You’re telling us Petrotrin has agreed to transfer assets. The Chairman of Petrotrin told the world, under oath, “it wasn’t me” – he took the Shaggy defense – and the Prime Minister stood there and told us it was the Cabinet.
I don’t know whether the Member for San Fernando West as a lawyer, as the person responsible for drafting this legislation has done his homework at all. Because that last preamble where you are going to vest certain matters in Guaracara, talks about Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Limited (PSAEL). Very strange how the acreage of the land is the same as the PSAEL acreage that was transferred to Petrotrin by Legal Notice 27 of 2015.
I think some serious checking needs to be done because it seems the Government is so busy trying to transfer assets that they couldn’t even be bothered to figure out who owns the asset.
To compound this error and make it worse, if that is at all possible, the preamble to the bill states that PSAEL “has agreed to transfer certain lands” to Heritage. Lands it does not even own. How can this be?
I have to question the mover of the bill – did anyone actually speak to anyone at PSAEL before you laid this bill???
How can you transfer land that you don’t have? It is gross incompetence.
The Attorney General should have conducted the due diligence and advised his colleagues on the land ownership. It is basic, any law student can advise you that you can’t transfer land you don’t own!
The Attorney General should know that it is fraudulent to transfer lands you don’t have. The Land Registry is located at the AG’s office he should have done a search.
If this happens in private practice it is considered as negligence and you will be sued! A season politician like the Attorney General and your law degree to be revoked and your appointment as AG.
NEW COMPANIES
By this Bill, “certain” of the assets of Petrotrin will be vested in three new companies.
Do you know how many jobs these new companies will provide?
According to the Articles of Association filed by Mr Espinet under the Companies Act of 1995 at the companies registry,
Heritage Petroleum Company Limited – number of intended employees – 800
Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited number of intended employees – 200
Guaracara Refining Company Limited number of intended employees – 1
Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited – number of intended employees – NONE!
Do you know who the directors of these companies are?
They are all controlled by the same two fellows: Wilfred Espinet and Reynold Ajodhasingh.
Every single one of them was incorporated on 5 October 2018. 3 of the companies were applied for on 17 September.
The last company, the Guaracara Refining Company was only applied for two weeks later on 4 October 2018.
All of these companies are private companies. The listening and viewing audience may not know this, but when you register a company you can put certain restrictions on the company’s operations. They could have restricted the ability of shares in the company to be transferred or who may own shares but they did not. This makes it easier for private parties to become shareholders and owners
RECRUITMENT OF THE NEW CEO OF HERITAGE
I come back to the Member for San Fernando West, who is the adviser to the Cabinet, who could not tell the Cabinet that you cannot hire Wylie.
There is an Act called the Petroleum Act, with Regulations made under it
So I am asking the question – was the hiring of Wylie illegal?
On Friday last the Prime Minister announced to the country that that in August of this year Petrotrin took the decision to hire Mike Wylie to head the new Heritage company.
The company was not yet formed but the CEO was being hired.
The Prime Minister confirmed that Wylie was hired by Petrotrin; he confirmed that Petrotrin used international recruitment processes to hire Mr. Wylie; he confirmed that Mr. Wylie salary was more than five times his own. Yes, this man that was hired by Petrotrin will earn a salary five times that of the Prime Minister, 1/4m per month plus housing and transport.
But this is the same administration that wants the country to believe that one of the reasons that Petrotrin was shut down was because of the high salaries.
But this is the same administration that wants the country to believe that one of the reasons that Petrotrin was shut down was because of the high salaries.
The Prime Minister will do well madam speaker to acquaint himself and his government with the laws of Trinidad and Tobago before making statements that he hopes will attract the attention of the right-thinking citizens of this country.
There is a serious issue that arises in relation to the employment of this man.
I want to draw your attention to the Petroleum Regulations that are made pursuant to the provisions of the Petroleum Act chapter 62:01.
The Petroleum Regulations impose certain obligations on licensees under the Petroleum Act. Petrotrin is a licensee.
Regulation 42(f) provides that a licensee shall,
Minimize the employment of foreign personnel, ensure that such employees are engaged only in positions for which the operator cannot, after reasonable advertisement in at least one daily newspaper circulating in Trinidad and Tobago, find available nationals of Trinidad and Tobago having the necessary qualifications and experience; determine the rules of employment including salary scales in such manner as to ensure that all employees in the same category enjoy equal conditions irrespective of nationality;
The hiring of Mr. Wylie was illegal and the Minister with responsibility for the administration who is the Minister of energy is absolutely clueless because this is happening under his watch and it raises the question Madam Speaker whether the Minister of Energy was in dereliction of his statutory duty when he allowed this to happen under his watch.
The entire process for the hiring of this man is in breach of the Petroleum Act and is illegal!
CEO Wylie is in his brand-new office sitting comfortably with his mega 0.25-million-dollar monthly salary. That is the hypocrisy of this Government.
The Prime Minister may want to take this advice – fire the Attorney General.
I call on the Prime Minister, Minister of Energy, Minister of Planning and the EMA to come clean on the right and proper CEC being put in place to safeguard the very lives of people from a potential industrial disaster. A new Environmental Impact assessment and a new CEC needs to be done urgently.
CONCLUSION
I think the Government should review this Bill. We do not support the principle of the Bill, but even more fundamentally, the Bill itself is flawed and cannot be passed in its current form and must be withdrawn.