Jamaica:
Trafigura scandal now history - Buchanan
Edmond
Campbell,
Senior
News Coordinator
Jamaica
Gleaner
Kingston
Petroleumworldtt.com
10 29 06
Information
and Development Minister, Donald Buchanan, yesterday
indicated that the Trafigura scandal which has dogged
the Government for the past three weeks, is now
history.
He
told journalists attending yesterday's sitting of
the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing, that the
Portia Simpson Miller-led administration has successfully
dismissed Opposition charges on the Trafigura Beheer
issue.
Mr.
Buchanan was speaking at his first post-Cabinet
press briefing, since his recent appointment, which
came in the wake of the resignation of Colin Campbell
as Information and Development Minister, over the
Trafigura affair.
He
said last Tuesday the Government team led by the
Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet Ministers,
along with Government backbencher K.D. Knight, challenged
all allegations brought by the parliamentary Opposition.
"At
the end of the day having refuted and really destroyed
all the arguments coming from the Opposition, the
matter is now at an end," Mr. Buchanan said.
Responding
to queries of breaches of international law or the
local Banking Act, Mr. Buchanan said if it involved
any illegal procedure the matter will be exposed
and action taken against offenders.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Campbell, who indicated that he would remain
as a Senator, seems to be getting support from his
former government colleagues.
Valuable
contribution
Asked
whether Mr. Campbell should maintain his position
as a Government Senator, Mr. Buchanan argued that
his predecessor felt he could still make a valuable
contribution to nation building without being 'fettered'.
Since
his resignation as information and development minister
and general secretary of the PNP earlier this month,
Mr. Campbell has been absent from at least two sittings
of the Upper House.
The
Trafigura Beheer controversy has rocked the governing
PNP since Opposition Leader Bruce Golding unveiled
the $31 million donation or commercial transaction
between the Dutch oil trading company and the PNP.
Jamaica Gleaner
Tuesday
| October 24, 2006
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