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Viewing cable 06KINGSTON2021, JAMAICA: A TRAFIGURA SCANDAL PRIMER

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06KINGSTON2021 2006-10-12 12:30 2011-06-02 09:30 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Kingston
Appears in these articles:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110602/lead/lead2.html
VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKG #2021/01 2851230
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121230Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3750
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 0079
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO PRIORITY 5747
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 0725
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM J7 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L KINGSTON 002021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR (BUDDEN, NICHOLS) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016 
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV PGOV PINR PREL SOCI KCOR JM
XL, XK 
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: A TRAFIGURA SCANDAL PRIMER 
 
REF: A. KINGSTON 1592 
     B. KINGSTON 1903 
     C. KINGSTON 402 
     D. KINGSTON 1342 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Brenda L. Johnson, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
-------- 
Summary 
-------- 
 
1. (SBU) The six-month old administration of People's 
National Party (PNP) Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller 
faces embarrassing and intense scrutiny over its acceptance 
of JMD 31 million (approximately USD 475,000) from a 
Dutch-based oil trading firm.  The firm, Trafigura Beheer BV, 
holds the contract to lift, market, and trade oil that 
Jamaica receives from Nigeria under a concessionary financing 
arrangement.  The powerful Minister for Information and 
Development, Colin Campbell, already has resigned, and 
opposition leader Bruce Golding has called for the entire 
government to follow suit and allow general elections to be 
held as soon as possible.  Simpson Miller has admitted 
meeting recently with Trafigura executives in New York, but 
claims to have known nothing of any transfer of funds.  If 
the Prime Minister herself becomes more deeply implicated, 
there could in fact be a dissolution of Parliament and snap 
elections; if not, the scandal seems more likely to push back 
the timetable for elections until later next year - 
ironically, something the Opposition Jamaica Labor Party 
(JLP) admits privately it can ill afford.  End summary. 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
2. (SBU) The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has had 
concessionary oil deals with Nigeria since the 1970s.  The 
quotas have varied as the agreements are renegotiated, but 
have always been in the range of 20-30,000 bpd.  The GOJ 
claimed, however, that the PetroJam refinery in Kingston 
(ref. A) cannot process the type of crude that is sourced 
from Nigeria.  Over the ensuing years, the GOJ has contracted 
with various oil traders to lift, market, and trade the oil. 
In October, 2000, the GOJ signed an agreement a Dutch oil 
trading company named Trafigura Beheer BV (headquartered in 
Switzerland) for this purpose. 
 
3. (SBU) The proceeds from the sale of the Nigerian oil were 
intended to be used to purchase finished petroleum products 
that would be received to and distributed from the PetroJam 
refinery.  Therefore, the profits were routed to the 
Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ).  In April, 2005, 
however, Finance Minister Omar Davies directed that the funds 
be deposited directly into the National Treasury, under the 
GOJ's "Consolidated Fund."  It is unclear how this money was 
then spent. 
 
------------------------ 
The JLP on the offensive 
------------------------ 
 
4. (SBU) On October 4, Opposition Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) 
leader Bruce Golding announced in Parliament that his party 
had uncovered "shady dealings" between the ruling People's 
National Party (PNP) and Trafigura Beheer BV.  Golding 
alleged that Trafigura had paid the PNP JMD 31 million 
(approximately USD 475,000) through accounts belonging to 
Minister of Information and Development ) and PNP General 
Secretary - Colin Campbell.  These monies, he continued, were 
used to fund the lavish PNP National Convention (ref. B) held 
September 21-24. 
 
5. (SBU) Golding called for the resignation of prominent PNP 
officials, and for immediate elections.  Private sector 
organizations also have criticized the PNP's acceptance of 
the money.  On October 5, PNP Minister of Housing, Transport, 
Water and Works (and PNP Party Chairman) Robert Pickersgill 
stated that the money was a campaign "donation," and as such 
there was no impropriety (Note: It was Pickersgill, in his 
capacity as Minister of Mining and Energy, who renegotiated 
the deal in 1999-2000.  End note).  On October 6, however, 
Trafigura stated that it was not a campaign contribution at 
all, and that the company's dealings in Jamaica are "strictly 
commercial." 
 
6. (C) The campaign by Golding has been partially successful 
thus far.  On October 9, Colin Campbell resigned his 
positions as Minister of Information and Development and as 
General Secretary of the Party, although he retains his 
Senate seat, to the irritation of some (Senators are 
appointed, and thus some feel that he should resign from that 
position, as well).  Other prominent JLP targets are the 
Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce 
(MITEC), Phillip Paulwell, Attorney General A.J. Nicholson, 
and Minister Pickersgill. 
 
-------------------- 
A Political Mistake? 
-------------------- 
 
7. (C) As post will report septel, PolEconCouns, PolOff and 
EconOff met with JLP MP James Robertson on October 10. 
Robertson indicated that he thought the JLP leadership had 
made a mistake in bringing the issue into the public domain 
too soon.  He argued that the revelations have only served to 
ensure that the ruling PNP will not call elections this year, 
as many (particularly the JLP) had hoped.  He opined that the 
JLP's party machinery "does not have a sixth gear," and 
worried that they would sputter due to lack of funds if the 
PNP waited that long. 
 
----------------------- 
Who Leaked and Why Now? 
----------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) At issue is also the question of how the Opposition 
came to uncover the scandal.  Rumor and speculation abound, 
but it is clear that the official of First Caribbean Bank, 
Sonia Christie, who discovered the unusual money transfers is 
the wife of JLP Deputy Mayor of Falmouth, Fitz Christie. 
While JLP contacts maintain that, by virtue of her position 
at the bank, she was duty-bound to report the suspicious 
transfers of amounts over USD 10,000, PNP supporters clearly 
see this as a partisan attack and a crime against privacy 
laws, for which Christie should be prosecuted.  First 
Caribbean has put Christie on leave while it investigates the 
matter. 
 
9. (C) Others, reflecting the Jamaican penchant for 
conspiracy theories, perceive the hand of Minister of 
National Security Peter Phillips at work.  Phillips was 
defeated in a close and sometimes rancorous internal party 
election for the leadership by Simpson Miller (ref. D), and 
it is an open secret that the two are not working well 
together, despite public appearances suggesting PNP internal 
unity.  There have been rumors that Phillips and his 
supporters in the PNP are willing to "throw" this election in 
order to oust Simpson Miller, and the current scandal only 
abets this claim. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
10. (C) If Simpson Miller can weather this storm without too 
many more disastrous leaks, she will likely wait some time 
before calling general elections, as Robertson predicts. 
However, the possibility cannot be ruled out that she herself 
will become deeply implicated, perhaps thus forcing her 
resignation.  In such a scenario, her likely successor, 
Phillips, also would prefer to wait to call elections, but 
the clamor of public opinion might well be too great to 
ignore. 
JOHNSON