Petrotrin yesterday claimed it had made a major breakthrough in the probe into the cause of the oil spill along the south-western peninsula, saying it had terminated a supervisor believed to have been involved in the sabotage of its operations.The state-owned company claimed the employee, who was said to be a senior Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) representative, was fired after he was found to have been involved in the illegal sale of oil to a company which was doing contract work for Petrotrin.
Sources said Petrotrin has evidence that the former employee was engaged in siphoning oil at the company's Pointe-a-Pierre operations on December 17 when something went wrong, resulting in the first oil spill. The subsequent spills, the company believes, were deliberately done as a diversion. In the employee's termination letter, which the T&T Guardian received a copy of, Petrotrin claimed to have had information that he had received payoffs for sale of the illegal oil.
The action came after Petrotrin launched a probe into the cause of oil spills, which first started at its Pointe-a-Pierre operations on December 17 but spread rapidly to other areas in the Gulf of Paria.During the probe, the company concluded that the spills were acts of sabotage. Two police investigations in the matter are still ongoing, but on Monday the company fired the senior supervisor after reportedly building a strong enough case against him.
$100,000 kickbacks
In the termination letter, Petrotrin said: "After due consideration of the matter, we regret to advise that you have been terminated from the company." It claimed it had evidence that the supervisor had accepted a gift of $100,000 from a company in return for allowing that company to acquire some of Petrotrin's assets in the form of oil.
High level Petrotrin sources said the former senior staff member was accused of facilitating the company in siphoning oil from the state-owned oil producer's lines, for which he received kickbacks. The oil, they believe, was sold elsewhere at prices well above market value.The complaint against the former employee dates back to 2012 and sources said Petrotrin is now trying to determine how long the activity was going on, since it is believed he was part of a well organised "network selling illegal crude and oil from Petrotrin."
Petrotrin officials said the activity was similar to the diesel bunkering racket which National Petroleum officials have been battling recently.
Hassanali: No comment
Contacted yesterday, Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali offered no comment, saying the matter was sensitive in nature.Efforts to contact OWTU president Ancel Roget were alas unsuccessful.