Colin Campbell insisted in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Bruce Golding lied in Parliament in 2006 when he said that $31 million given to the former People’s National Party (PNP) Government by Dutch oil-lifting company Trafigura Beheer had been destined for the Consolidated Fund but was diverted elsewhere by members of the PNP.

Campbell, a former PNP general secretary and Cabinet minister, also said that Golding fabricated a story when he claimed that a delegation to New York, led by then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, met with executives of Trafigura Beheer.

“This, again, is a continuation of a series of concoctions to sensationalise this announcement which Mr Golding had made to say that it was money destined for the Consolidated Fund, which is an open lie. It blossomed into many other lies,” Campbell said.

“This story about meeting with Trafigura executives in New York is a continuation of a lie, and the lies are manufactured, sold and distributed by Bruce Golding. I met with no Trafigura executives in New York. There was no meeting in New York. I went to New York as part of an official delegation to celebrate Jamaica’s Independence with members of the Diaspora,” he said.

Asked if any official from the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica was on that trip, Campbell said no.

“That is a creation of Bruce Golding. There was no meeting in New York,” he insisted.

The prosecution then probed if Campbell knew Claude Dauphin, the head of Trafigura. Campbell said he met Dauphin once when he visited Jamaica on a one-day trip from August 23 to 24.

“Mr Claude Dauhphin was referred to me as the general secretary of the party. We had a discussion. He said he wished to make a contribution. I duly thanked him,” Campbell said.

“There was no one else in the meeting. It was a private conversation which lasted no more than five minutes. He was saying bye bye and that he was on his way to pay a courtesy call to the prime minister,” Campbell explained.

He added that at the time there was no requirement for donations to be written down, and therefore the Trafigura donation wasn’t.

In addition, Campbell told the Court that a bank account for SW Services Team Jamaica, which is a PNP campaign funding account, did not exist when Trafigura initially offered to donate the funds to the PNP. This prompted him to provide the overseas company with details for the bank account in the name of Colin Campbell Our Candidate (CCOC).

Shortly after the funds were transferred the money was sent to an SW Services Team Jamaica account and, according to Campbell, CCOC merely acted as a bearer in the transaction and had no relations whatsoever with Trafigura.

On Wednesday, the third day of PNP members answering questions in the Supreme Court, Civil Division, regarding the three-part transfer, Campbell said that Dauphin declined to send the donation to a general PNP account. According to Campbell, Dauphin expressed to him during the private meeting that he would donate to the PNP’s campaign ahead of the 2007 General Election, but that Dauphin was more comfortable sending the funds to the CCOC bank account instead.

“[SW Services Team Jamaica] is the PNP campaign account. It [became] one of several accounts owned by the PNP. In Jamaica, you cannot have all your accounts with political names. Corporations do not draw cheques to political parties. There are a very few people who would do that. You have to have accounts where people feel comfortable,” he explained.

“We didn’t name the account PNP campaign fund 2006. It was named SW Services Team Jamaica so local and foreign entities can feel comfortable transferring funds to the party. That is why the account was created. SW Services is not an association, it is the People’s National Party. That is why it was sent immediately to the SW Services account. The only arrangement between CCOC and SW Services was that the donation be paid over to the party.”

According to Campbell, both the CCOC and the SW Services accounts were set up in 1991 to receive campaign funding. The only difference was that CCOC was created to accept funds to support Campbell’s candidacy in the 1993 General Election. The SW Services account, Campbell insisted, was opened to receive funding for general party campaigning.

Neither CCOC nor SW Services are registered in Jamaica or elsewhere. As it relates to CCOC, Campbell said no one was in charge of operations and no records were kept. As it relates to SW Services, he said the chairman of the PNP Finance Committee was in charge of that account, but Campbell could not say which individuals kept the records of the account.

The court learned that the funds were transferred from CCOC to SW Services on Campbell’s instructions and that he, as well as the chairman of the finance committee, were aware.

Campbell was asked what happened to over $1 million that was left in the CCOC account after just over $30 million was transferred to SW Services. He replied that it was frozen by the bank on his instructions after Golding made the details of the CCOC account public. He told told the court that he had moved to file a lawsuit due to the bank allowing private information to be accessed by people who were not holders of the account.

Campbell said that, “Every last cent of the Trafigura donation can be accounted for.”

Regarding reasons for Trafigura effectuating the $31-million payment from London and why it took place in three parts, Campbell said he had “absolutely no idea”.