WILLEMSTAD - Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas says that the Heads of Agreement (HoA) for the takeover of the Isla refinery by Caribbean Petroleum Refinery (CPR) now only depends on MCB Bank and the Central Bank CBCS.
His cabinet gives CPR 'the benefit of the doubt', after it became known just before the turn of the year that this preferred bidder had supplied several forged financial documents from financing partners.
But because for Pisas 'it has been established that there is no link between CPR and these forged documents' – as has been determined by forensic investigation on the basis of, among other things, the investigated e-mail correspondence – the process with CPR is continued.
"Now we want to see money in the account," the prime minister said. “They have proven that the swift transfers are ready and are only talking to their local banker, MCB Bank, for the deposits into their Curaçao account. There is also a small problem: the Central Bank still has to grant a license because it concerns a large dollar transaction.”
When asked, the MCB management indicated that 'the statements of Prime Minister Pisas are his responsibility'. “We are not commenting on that.” In response to questions put to CBCS president Richard Doornbosch, the Communications Department of the Central Bank stated that it "must report that we are not allowed to provide information about accounts and applications from third parties in the context of our duty of confidentiality".
Pisas states that he bears political responsibility for government limited company Refineria di Kòrsou (RdK) with interim director Patrick Newton at the helm and that if something is wrong, he will not hesitate to abort the process with CPR himself. However, according to the prime minister, there is "no reason not to continue negotiations with CPR."
He argues for a rational and thoughtful approach, because on emotional grounds – when he learned about the forgeries earlier – he says he would have immediately ended the relationship. But the forensic investigation results, he says, have shown 'black-on-white' that CPR is outside of this.
The prime minister points out that earlier discussions were held with Klesch and later with the local group Corc – when they were still preferred bidders – even when it became clear that they did not have the required financial resources at their disposal: the so-called proof of funds. CPR is also getting time. According to Pisas, time and again it has become apparent how difficult it is to find investors for the Isla refinery; these look at all the pros and cons first.
But now CPR apparently has a financier, an equity partner, who, despite all the uncertainties, apparently likes to make the hundreds of millions of dollars available for the upgrading and restart of the refinery. No announcements have been made yet about which financial partner that is.
In any case, the Prime Minister has so much confidence that he now counts on a HoA outline agreement being signed with CPR in the second week of January, after which the latter can actually start with the first steps for operation six to eight weeks later.