WILLEMSTAD - A group of 600 concerned citizens has signed a letter through the Member of Parliament for the opposition party MFK, Charles Cooper addressed to Governor Lucille George-Wout. The group does not agree with the agreement that Curaçao has signed with the Klesch Group about the refinery. The citizens demand the dissolution of that agreement.

The letter, accompanied by the 600 signatures, states: “From the Prime Minister at a press conference on December 23, 2019, we have learned that the government has sold the properties of the people that were given to Refineria di Kòrsou (RdK) to the Klesch Group for only one (1) US dollar.

The government indicates that an agreement has been reached with Klesch Group on the transfer. From the information currently known to the public it appears that properties owned by the people will be transferred to the Klesch Group, but that the counter obligations for the Klesch Group are disproportionate to the value of the properties to be obtained by Klesch Group.

We believe that the agreement with the Klesch Group should be revised or that in any case the agreement as achieved not simply be implemented. In this context, we would like to point out the different views of financial experts in Curaçao, such as the former president of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, who has publicly indicated that the agreement reached will be detrimental to our beautiful Curaçao.”

The letter is dated December 30 and has recently been submitted to Parliament. The resolution also requires the government not only to terminate the contract with Klesch, but also to appoint three wise men who will evaluate the process and look for a refinery operator, who will be responsible for the employment of Isla- employees and employees of contractors is guaranteed and that the work of other Curacaoans is guaranteed.

The contract between PdVSA and Refineria di Kòrsou has meanwhile been terminated, but PdVSA will still pay to stay on the Isla refinery site for some time. The reason is that PdVSA still has stored products in different tanks. PdVSA wants to sell this on the international market.