Campbell drawing a red herring, says Golding
Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Thursday accused Colin Campbell of trying to distract attention from what he termed “the indisputable facts” of the Trafigura matter and advised the one-time Cabinet minister and People’s National Party (PNP) general secretary to challenge the inferences.
Golding was responding to Campbell’s statement in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Golding lied in Parliament in 2006 when he said that $31 million given to the former 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 had 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.
Responding in a letter to the editor, Golding asked: “Who ever said that the Trafigura money was intended for the Consolidated Fund?”
According to Golding, the indisputable facts are:
“1) The oil-lifting contract between the Government of Jamaica and Trafigura had expired in December 2005.
“2) Trafigura was allowed to continue lifting oil in 2006 although its contract had expired.
“3) On August 23, 2006, the executive chairman of Trafigura, the late Mr Claude Dauphin, met with the prime minister and the minister of mining and separately with Mr Colin Campbell, then general secretary of the PNP.
“4) Two weeks later, between September 6 and 12, funds totalling $31 million were transferred from Trafigura to the CCOC Associates bank account in Jamaica with which Mr Campbell was associated.
“5) The PNP insists that these funds were a political donation to the PNP but in a statement issued on October 6, 2006, Trafigura maintained that these payments were pursuant to a “commercial agreement with CCOC Associates” relating to its business activities in Jamaica.
“Mr Campbell’s best bet is to challenge the inferences, not draw red herring.”
