Dutch oil trader Trafigura on Friday said it had received the money that the People’s National Party (PNP) reported it had returned and made it clear that it would not make any other comment on the issue.

“We can now confirm receipt of the monies, which were sent by wire in the appropriate manner via the international banking system. No further comments will be made on this matter,” Trafigura spokesman Neil Cameron said in an e-mail response from the firm’s London office.

Trafigura’s response to an Observer query came on the same day that Jamaica Labour Party leader Bruce Golding told journalists that the Dutch authorities will be asking the Jamaican Government for permission to send investigators to the island to probe Trafigura’s controversial $31-million donation to the PNP last September.

According to Golding, he had received a letter from the Dutch police on February 21 seeking his cooperation in the probe and informing him that the assistance of the Jamaican Government would also be sought.

“We are advised of the investigators who have been assigned. The investigations are being conducted jointly by the National Police Internal Investigations Department and the Dutch National Prosecutor’s office,” Golding said at a news conference at the JLP headquarters in Kingston.

“Firstly, they sought confirmation of my willingness to be interviewed,” said Golding. “I indicated to them that I stood ready. They are supposed to send a team of investigators to Jamaica, but they have indicated that they would need to have the agreement of the Government and that a formal request was being prepared to be submitted to the Government.”

Trafigura’s confirmation also came 10 days after PNP General-Secretary Donald Buchanan told reporters that the money was sent back to the firm.

Trafigura came to national attention last October when the Opposition revealed that the firm, which has a contract to lift and trade Nigerian crude on the international market for Jamaica, transferred $31 million to a local bank account held by the PNP.

The PNP said the money was a donation for electioneering, but Trafigura later claimed that it was payment on a commercial agreement. The scandal resulted in the resignation of then information minister and PNP general-secretary Colin Campbell.

On October 8, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller ordered the money returned.