00:00Leader of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union, Ansel Roger, is responding to claims made
00:05by Energy Minister Stuart Young that Patriotic Energies used a fraudulent document in its
00:10attempt to acquire the Pointer Pear refinery.
00:13I want to say, particularly before I go forward, if I say any other word this morning, is that
00:20we deny vehemently, that we say categorically, that the company Patriotic Energies Services
00:31Limited did not put before the cabinet-appointed evaluation committee any document that the
00:40minister is referring to.
00:42We say that categorically.
00:44The OWT issues a challenge to the minister, calling on him to step out from under the
00:50cover of parliament.
00:51Come outside and tell the public that we put before, we put before the cabinet evaluation
00:58committee fraudulent documents also.
01:01Come out and say that outside.
01:02He says the process by which Patriotic Energies removed three financers and submitted a new
01:08financer is normal under the non-binding bidding procedure.
01:13According to Roger, the initial three were lacking in several areas.
01:18Not being able to finance, not being able to support the documents that they would have
01:22given us and so on.
01:24Totally unsuitable and therefore not worthy of going further with.
01:29And all of that is consistent with what is a non-binding bid process.
01:36So anything that the minister referred to that has to do with prior to the elimination
01:42of those three, it is totally irrelevant.
01:47The OWTU calls the statements by Young dishonest, but it maintains that if that is the reason
01:53Patriotic was rejected, the process should be scrapped and restarted.
01:58But Roger states that what has transpired leaves more questions to be answered.
02:03How did Styrtia got hold of a document that Scotiabank International, Scotiabank International
02:12had the responsibility to ensure that it is insulated from any external interference?
02:20Because Patriotic, like all of the other contenders, would have signed a non-disclosure agreement.
02:27However, the OWTU claims that at this time it remains unaware of what document Young
02:33was referring to during his contribution to the 2025 budget debate in the House of Representatives.
02:40But we are sure that whatever he's talking about is not what we submitted to the cabinet
02:46appointed to violation committee.
02:49Furthermore, Roger expresses a belief that Young, given his portfolio of energy, did
02:54the wrong thing.
02:56Any document coming in the minister's mailbox, the minister has a responsibility to not to
03:03not do what he did for political purposes and so on.
03:08But that is how they govern.
03:10The OWTU refers to it as a smokescreen to distract the population from what it says
03:15are pertinent issues like crime and economic hardship facing the nation.
03:20Roger also notes that it came following the opposition leader's budget contribution, where
03:24she addressed the issue of the Mothballed refinery.
03:28Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
Comments