KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness today announced that the terms of reference for the team that is being set up to assist the Government and the Board of the state oil refinery Petrojam, to determine its strategic direction, has been finalised.

Speaking at a quarterly press conference at Jamaica House, he informed that “I have sent the TOR to the Opposition, I have had their comments, and we have considered them. We have spoken to persons who we’re inviting to serve on the commission. They have agreed and we still have one or two persons that we are tidying up details with, and we should have the commissioned name very shortly”.

The Government took the decision to convene a commission to look into Petrojam’s operations and inform strategy for the way forward for the state-run entity, in which Venezuela’s state oil refinery has 49 per cent share. The Government has been looking to buy back those shares.

Petrojam has been caught up in a controversy of corruption allegations since June, when a number of revelations about the company’s operations were aired at Parliament’s PAAC, which led the Opposition to pressure the Government to hold the then minister Dr Andrew Wheatley accountable for questionable management practices at the entity.

Wheatley, the then Board, and two senior managers have since resigned. A new Board is in place and the energy portfolio under which Petrojam falls, has been moved to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Investigations are now being carried out at Petrojam by the Integrity Commission and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA).

Alphea Saunders