00:00 Opposition MP David Lee says the discovery was made after a request was
00:05 submitted under the Freedom of Information Act to acquire the
00:09 evaluation report. In September 2019, Patriotic Energy's Company Limited, owned
00:16 by the oil field workers trade union, tendered to purchase the Guaracara
00:20 refinery but its proposal was rejected in 2020. As a result, the refinery was put
00:26 back on the market for sale. The request for the report was made to ascertain why
00:31 the company was unable to get the refinery. The first request for the
00:36 report under the FOIA was made to the Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited in
00:41 August 2022. "And the response is, any report produced in respect of the
00:47 evaluation of the preferred bidder would have been prepared by the government
00:53 appointed evaluation committee, which I mentioned in names, and would be
00:58 in the possession of the Ministry of Finance." Following the response from
01:02 Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited, Lee said that another FOIA letter was sent
01:08 to the Ministry of Finance. "When we asked the Ministry of Finance, let us get a
01:15 copy of what happened, that report. They are saying the Ministry of Finance
01:21 is not in possession of the requested document. Further, this is critical, no
01:28 such document exists. So am I to ask that the evaluation committee headed by
01:37 Vishnu Dhanpal did not evaluate the preferred bidder patriotic energies?
01:44 Because in their letter they said they did and they sent that final report to
01:49 the Ministry of Finance. When we file a Freedom of Information to the Ministry of
01:54 Finance, the Ministry of Finance is saying that no such report exists." Lee
02:00 says the absence of a report from the Finance Ministry raises the question of
02:05 why exactly was Patriotic Energies Company Limited denied purchase of a
02:10 refinery and was a report on their proposal actually done?
02:15 Shirlan Ramsubag, TV6 News.
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