Trafigura boss said drawn by Portia’s star power
Paulwell denies having had invoice for Trafigura payments
Published:Wednesday | March 9, 2022 | 12:14 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
Member of Parliament Phillip Paulwell has denied supplying an invoice to former top executives of the Dutch firm Trafigura Beheer related to a controversial $31-million payment made to the People's National Party (PNP) around the time they were in Jamaica for a courtesy call on then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller in 2006.
The courtesy call involving Paulwell, Simpson Miller, then Trafigura boss Claude Daphin, and the then permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister took place either at Jamaica House or Vale Royal on August 23, 2006, and lasted about “six to seven” minutes, the lawmaker confirmed.
He was giving evidence in the Supreme Court on Tuesday in response to questions crafted by investigators from the Netherlands and posed by prosecutors in Jamaica about a controversial $31-million payment Trafigura made to the People's National Party (PNP).
The payment was made in three tranches of just over $10 million each, which were electronically transferred to an account operated by the political fundraising entity CCOC Association on September 6 and 12, 2006, two weeks after the courtesy call.
An oil-lifting contract Trafigura had with the Jamaican Government, formed by the Simpson Miller-led PNP, had expired the previous year.
However, the Dutch firm continued to lift oil for Jamaica in 2006 under an interim arrangement that was in place, although the then National Contracts Commission had recommended that the new contract be awarded to Glencore Energy UK Limited, the company that emerged as the winning bidder.
Authorities in the Netherlands are investigating whether the payments broke any criminal laws there.
Paulwell, who represents Kingston Eastern and Port Royal, was confronted on Tuesday by prosecutors with records from a local financial institution – dated the same day of the courtesy call – which supported the $31-million payment.
“With regard to the payment from Trafigura to CCOC Association and the date of August 23, 2006, [that are] on the wire transfer credit advice, did you provide Mr Daphin with an invoice or any other document on August 23, 2006?” prosecutor Andrea Martin Swaby questioned.
“I absolutely did not,” Paulwell replied.
“In fact, that never arose in those brief discussions or courtesy call with Mrs Simpson Miller. Never arose.”
“Can you provide a copy of the invoice or invoices?” Martin Swaby continued.
“Non-existent as far as I am aware. Certainly not from me.”
The former government minister insisted that the courtesy call was to satisfy Daphin's fascination with Jamaica's first female prime minister.
Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency records showed that Daphin arrived in Jamaica the same day of the courtesy call and departed the following day, Martin Swaby disclosed.
Paulwell said the former Trafigura boss, who died six years ago, wanted to get a personal photograph with Simpson Miller and an autograph to take back to his daughter.
“That was his preoccupation with coming to Jamaica. Total fascination with the fact that we now have a new prime minister [and] a female prime minister,” said the lawmaker.
“He did meet with us. He was given the mandatory kisses from the prime minister. The photograph was taken and the autograph was done. And that satisfied, based on my recollection, his purpose for visiting Jamaica.”
Paulwell is the second of five PNP functionaries Dutch investigators want to answer questions under oath about the $31-million payment. The others are Simpson Miller, former PNP Chairman Robert Pickersgill, former PNP General Secretary Colin Campbell, and businessman Norton Hinds.
Hinds was the first to give evidence.
Paulwell, like Hinds, answered “I don't know” or “I was not aware” to dozens of questions.
He gave evidence that the first time he became aware of SW Services was when then Opposition Leader Bruce Golding raised the Trafigura issue in Parliament in 2007, but acknowledged that he later learnt it was a PNP account.
Just over $30 million from the Trafigura payment to CCOC Association was transferred to SW Services on September 7 and 14, 2006, prosecutors disclosed.
“I had no knowledge of it. I had not yet had such seniority in the PNP to be aware of such an account,” Paulwell said.
Businessman Prakash Vaswani wrote to a local commercial bank on January 14, 2008, requesting that it close SW Services' account “at the earliest possible date”, Martin Swaby revealed, citing the letter.
Campbell began giving evidence on Tuesday and will continue when the hearings resume today.