Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget is calling for the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) report into the Paria tragedy that claimed the lives of four divers to be made public and not sanitised.
He made the call for full disclosure hours after CoE chairman Jerome Lynch, KC, submitted the report to President Christine Kangaloo yesterday.
While addressing former Petrotrin workers and union members at the Pointe-a-Pierre roundabout to mark the fifth anniversary of Petrotrin’s closure last evening, Roget said, “I want you to join me in calling for that report to be made public. You see, there is this thing that they call redacted and sanitised and what they will put out and what they have their media friends assist them in putting out ...”
At a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Lynch said the 380-page report was completed, but he did not divulge any details about the findings, except to say that the 2022 tragedy was “no act of God”. Lynch added that everyone should ensure that the tragedy never recurs.
The report was delivered 21 months after LMCS divers Fyzal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr, Yusuf Henry and Rishi Nagassar died inside a Paria Fuel Trading Company pipeline at Berth No 6 in the Pointe-a-Pierre harbour. Fellow diver Christopher Boodram who was also sucked into the pipeline survived.
In a brief telephone interview after addressing the workers and union members in Pointe-a-Pierre, Roget called for criminal charges against those found culpable in the report. He said they should be charged for negligence that resulted in the deaths of the divers.
Condemning the treatment of the families since the divers’ deaths, Roget said it was “unfathomable to think” that the families of the divers would not receive compensation. He said the divers left home to go to work to earn an income to maintain their families.
Roget also maintained that had Petrotrin still been functional the divers would not have died due to the high level of health and safety standards practiced by the company.
Meanwhile, Kevin Lalchan, a former Petrotrin employee who has been advocating for justice for the drivers said the Government never reached out to the families. He said they have to give the President time to review the report, but he called on the country to “not sleep on this matter” and keep pushing for justice.
Company made US$2 billion loss–Roget
Claiming that the country and people are worse off without Petrotrin, Roget claimed that Paria has lost US$2 billion between 2019 to 2023.
Roget provided a document on Paria obtained by the union under the Freedom of Information Act with the breakdown showing the value of refined products imported by the company between December 2018 to September 2023.
While the Government has been trying to justify their decision to close down Petrotrin by claiming it was losing money, he said, “For the period 2019 to 2023–October 2019 to 30th September 2023–Paria would have lost some US$2,698,304,867. Instead of making Forex, Paria losing because of the price of what they import and they have to pay whatever the prices are on the international market ...” In addition, he said people were being sold poor-quality fuel on the local market.
He said since Petrotrin’s closure the country has been grappling with scarce foreign exchange, unemployment, fuel increases, and deplorable roads because there is no bitumen.
Roget called the workers and the public to stand together against the Rowley-led Government and the Peoples National Movement for what he saw as injustices against the population. He also accused the media of being biased in its reporting of the Petrotrin issue.
Audited financials do not support views on losses
However, the audited financials of Paria Fuel Trading Company since its inception on December 1, 2018, do not appear to support the contention of the president general of the OWTU that the fuel importer lost US$2.69 billion:
For the ten months from December 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019, Paria declared after-tax profit of $109.29 million;
For the 12 months ended September 30, 2020, the company reported after-tax profit of $231.16 million;
For the 12 months ended September 30, 2021, the fuel importer’s after-tax profit amounted to $162.02 million;
For the year ended September 30, 2022, Paria declared $257.35 million in after-tax profits.
Therefore, for the three years and ten months between December 1, 2018 and September 30, 2022, Paria declared audited after-tax profits of $759.82 million.