Campbell says CCOC had no contact with Trafigura
BY JASON CROSS
Observer staff reporter
Standing in the witness box in the civil division of the Supreme Court, Colin Campbell testified earlier Wednesday that the fundraising organisation, Campbell Our Candidate (CCOC), had absolutely no contact with Dutch oil-lifting company Trafigura Beheer.
Campbell told the Court that a bank account was set up under the name CCOC Association by a group of friends in 1991 to support his candidacy and victory in the 1993 General Elections.
In telling the Court how Trafigura came to transfer $31 million into the account in three parts on September 6 and September 12 in 2006, Campbell said CCOC only received a donation on behalf of the People’s National Party, and as general secretary of the PNP at the time, that he provided the account details for the transfer.
Other than that, he was adamant that CCOC and Trafigura has never been in contact over the 15 years that CCOC was in existence.
“CCOC has never been in contact, spoken to, written to or received any correspondence from Trafigura. There were no emails, WhatsApp, SMS and absolutely no communication. No contact was originated or maintained. CCOC only came into the picture because its account received funds for the People’s National Party.
“These questions make no sense. CCOC has no commercial purpose. It is a fundraising account to raise funds for Colin Campbell’s victory in the 1993 elections. No files exist. There is no commercial value. There is no mutual obligation because CCOC and Trafigura have never been in contact and have never spoken to each other in its 15 years of existence.”
Campbell pointed out that CCOC was never registered in Jamaica or elsewhere.
Shortly after the funds were transferred to CCOC’s account in 2006, over $30 million was transferred to a First Global Bank account under the name, SW Services Team Jamaica, which Campbell said is a PNP campaign account.
Campbell said the SW Services Team Jamaica account was used by donors who did not want to transfer money for campaigns to political accounts.
On Tuesday, Opposition member of parliament Phillip Paulwell denied involvement in the payback of $30 million to Trafigura after the donation to the PNP was made public by then Opposition Leader Bruce Golding in 2006.
During his second day of testimony in the Trafigura matter in the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, Paulwell also denied writing a letter indicating that the money had been repaid.
“I was not involved in any payback,” he told the court, and said he was not sure why Robert Pickersgill, another PNP member, purportedly returned the funds.
READ: Paulwell denies Trafigura payback involvement
The day before, Queen’s Counsel K D Knight objected to a request by prosecutors to have two Dutch investigators assigned to the 16-year Trafigura case sit in chambers on Wednesday when deliberations take place to decide if former PNP President and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will be excused as a witness in the matter.
Knight, the attorney representing Simpson Miller, applied to have his client excused from giving evidence in the case due to medical reasons.
In October 2006, Golding dropped a bombshell in Parliament when he revealed that Trafigura, the firm which traded oil for Jamaica on the international market, had donated $31 million to the CCOC Association account operated by Campbell. At the time, Campbell was the minister of information and development and also general secretary of the PNP. The money was transferred to the account just prior to the PNP’s annual conference that year.
Conflictingly, Trafigura Beheer said the money was part of a commercial agreement, while the PNP maintained that it was a donation to the party. It is illegal under Dutch law for companies to make donations to political parties.
