THAT $3.1 B WGTL SCANDAL!

THE collapsed $3.1 billion World Gas-to-Liquids (WGTL) project is the single largest waste of Trinidad and Tobago taxpayers’ dollars.

That is an astounding fact.

Consider the history of bobol with the national purse, dating back to Gene Miles’ expose of the gas station racket and including an admission by a then-government minister that “all ah we t’ief.’

No one was made to pay for the outrageous scandal with respect to a project that was meant to improve the quality of diesel to meet revised environmental standards.

In fact, as with all things T&T, the botched project became a political football, prosecuted by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration and protected by the Government of Dr. Keith Rowley.

Prime Minister Rowley admitted that the WGTL venture “went horribly bad.”

But his regime withdrew litigation against Malcolm Jones, who as Executive Director of Petrotrin spearheaded the dubious joint venture project in a suspect deal with a financially flimsy company.

In fact, Rowley rehabilitated Jones, made him a member of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Energy, and handed him the country’s highest award.

The WGTL project is a public disgrace of unmatched local proportions.

The Jones executive was properly warned about major financial and technical risks, but, according to court affidavit, ignored advice on the lack of expertise, vague pricing contract, insufficient equity, and other crucial factors.

A then-senior Petrotrin official asked his bosses: “Is this alliance workable?”

He raised questions about the construction period, contingencies, guarantees, insurance protection, licensing agreements, etc.

No final engineering assessments were reportedly done, and there was no reliable capital expenditure costing.

A legal firm advising Petrotrin identified critical concerns and said: “This is most un-businesslike…”

The court matter claimed that Petrotrin had no control over the cost and project management despite being the major financier.

Jones and his executive were accused of a breach of their fiduciary duties and an absence of due diligence.

The legal suit was quietly withdrawn by the Rowley administration, although no one took personal responsibility.

The government then sold the WGTL shell in what the Express newspaper termed “an opaque” business deal.

And with that, the World Gas-to-Liquids disgrace was casually put to rest by the authorities, while taxpayers tote a $3.1 billion bill.