Opinion
- Editorial
Rickey
Singh:
The Jamaican bombshell
A
SERIOUS breach in banking confidentiality has exposed
a secret contribution of US$467,000 (TT$2.8 million)
to Jamaica's governing People's National Party by
Dutch oil trading corporation Trafigura, resulting
in an explosive political dilemma for the seven-month-old
administration of Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller.
The
exposure last week by the leader of the Jamaica
Labour Party (JLP), Bruce Golding, was based on
information on cheque transactions provided by a
senior employee of First Caribbean International
Bank (FCIB) in Jamaica. She has since been sent
on leave pending further investigations following
a threat of legal action by the PNP for alleged
breach of confidentiality rules.
The
first victim of this bombshell is PNP Senator Colin
Campbell, forced to resign at the weekend as Minister
of Information and Development and also as the party's
General Secretary.
He
was at the centre of private negotiations last August
with officials of Trafigura - which does business
with state-owned Jamaica Petroleum Corporation -
that resulted in the sum of J$31 million (US$467,000)
being deposited in an FCIB account under the name
of "CCOC Associates".
National
security is certainly not a factor in the current
case involving but a major issue is campaign financing.
What
the exposure has uncovered is part of a rotten political
culture that involves governing and opposition parties
throughout Caricom in sustaining a kind of "cheque-book
democracy", with undisclosed contributions
by leading local, regional and foreign corporate
interests.
This
is a challenge for all political parties in Caricom
that claim commitment to good governance and interested
in stopping unregulated campaign financing.
There
is the suspicion by the law-enforcement agencies
that banking rules may have been violated. This
issue of banking confidentiality has arisen right
here in Trinidad and Tobago in connection with kidnappings.
In
the bombshell case in Jamaica one of Campbell's
political colleagues, Norton Hinds, whose signature
was on the FCIB account, came forward with an explanation.
He
said that account was opened for the former cabinet
minister since 1992 to help fund his election as
an MP. The CCOC, said Norton, stands for "Colin
Campbell Our Candidate". It was simply a fund-raising
account and not a company, he said.
Campbell decided, in his negotiations with Trafigura,
to have the US$467,000 deposited in the CCOC Associates
account with the explicit intention of it being
used to help fund the PNP's general elections campaign.
The
fallen Campbell may be justified in his claim that
all political parties in Jamaica have benefitted
from private campaign financing. Question is whether
at the time of his secret negotiations with Trafigura
he was also aware of how tarnished was the Dutch
oil trading company in the UN "Oil for Food"
scandal.
While
Golding's JLP was milking the situation for maximum
political advantage - (or was it really a commercial
agreement as Trafigura subsequently claimed?) -
embarrassed cabinet ministers and executives of
the PNP hastily moved into damage control mode.
It led to the immediate return of the entire US$467,000
to Trafigura.
It is not clear at what stage Prime Minister Simpson-Miller
became aware of the money provided by Trafigura,
or the circumstances and details of the operations
of the account of CCOC Associates.
But
Campbell was one of her frontline supporters in
the battle to succeed PJ Patterson as PNP leader
and prime minister against colleagues like National
Security Minister Peter Philips and Finance Minister
Omar Davies.
She
was in the throes of strategising for an early poll
when Golding's dropped his "Trafigura bombshell".
He
had to subsequently back-pedal from enthusiastically
advanced allegations that carried libellous connotations
amid threats of legal action by a severely wounded
PNP, even as First Caribbean International Bank
continued with settlement negotiations over the
breach in confidentiality that provided a pre-election
political weapon for the JLP.
Nevertheless,
Golding has good reason to bask in the glory of
having pushed the PNP onto the defensive.
Those
familiar with the indomitable spirit of "Sister
P" do not share the view of a change in elections
strategy. They feel she could decide to tough it
out and face the electorate for a mandate of her
own in what would be the PNP's quest for an unprecedented
fifth consecutive term in power. Has this possibility
been seriously jeopardised by the "Trafigura
bombshell"? We shall see.
Rickey
Singh
is columnist of the Trinidad Express.Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: The preciding article was publish by Trinidad
Express, on Wednesday, October 11th 2006. Petroleumworld
reprint this article in the interest of our readers.
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Petroleumworld 10/15/06
Copyright
©2006 Rickey Singh.
All Rights Reserved.
