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MSJ party’s leader criticises Port of

Spain over transfer pricing for LNG

PERFORMANCE DAVID Abdulah, the leader of Trinidad and the statement gets big headlines.”
Tobago’s socialist Movement for Social Justice Abdulah also accused Finance Minister
(MSJ) Party, has called on the government to Colm Imbert of not upholding his own state-
respond to a new report alleging that transfer ments on this front. He pointed specifically to
pricing for LNG caused Port of Spain to incur Imbert’s remarks during budget speeches about
$18bn in losses between 2010 and 2018. the government’s need to develop a policy for
Responding to the publication of a report transfer pricing and about its plan to seek advice
by the UN Economic Commission for Latin from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Abdu- “So he himself spoke about it, but what has he
lah accused the government of doing nothing done? Nothing,” he said.
to prevent this loss of revenue. Speaking at an Under these circumstances, he added, Port
MSJ press conference, he said that his party of Spain’s decision to shut down the Petrotrin
had been aware of this problem long before the oil refinery in Point-a-Pierre in 2019 for its fail-
report, entitled “Navigating transfer pricing ure to pay off around $3bn worth of debt seems
risk in the oil and gas sector: Essential elements unjustified. “[They] closed down Petrotrin when
of a policy framework for TT and Guyana,” Petrotrin never received a cent, not a single cent
came to print. in subsidy from the government,” he remarked.
“It is not new. The MSJ spoke of transfer of “Not a single cent was put in from taxpayers into
pricing by energy companies [such as] BP, Shell, Petrotrin.”
Repsol [and] BHP with respect to natural gas Abdulah is a member of Parliament’s Lashley
and LNG, but we were not taken seriously,” he committee, which was set up several years ago
told reporters. to review Petrotrin’s operations. The MSJ leader
He criticised Port of Spain for not heeding also serves as chief education and research officer
the party’s warnings, saying: “The fact is that of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU),
this country has been ripped off by billions of which represents local oil and gas workers. Patri-
dollars by the mechanism of transfer of pric- otic Energies and Technologies Co., a subsidiary
ing. We have been [calling] on the government of OWTU, has been trying to buy Petrotrin since
on many occasions to deal with transfer of 2019, but Imbert confirmed earlier this month
pricing, but the ECLAC publishes a report and that it would not accept the offer.™

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