This means that the judiciary has ruled pro forma for now. The Venezuelan companys shipping schedules showed that Reliance was loading a cargo from PDVSA as recently as April 20. The company, which has offices in Havana and other countries, was created to handle, among other things, its relationship with oil-exporting Latin American countries and with Cuba, Mossack Fonseca lawyer Rigoberto Coronado wrote in an email. During his time as energy minister, Hayes caused controversy by refusing to support any further expansion to onshore wind power, describing wind turbines as a terrible intrusion. Records of a meeting in Dubai in March of 2011 reflect a decision to significantly reduce the capital of BB Naft, held by BB Energy Holdings NV., from $8 million to $1.050 million. After the Reuters story ran, Rosneft strongly denied the report, describing it as a blatant lie and a provocation against Rosneft. The new certificates, for 800 shares, were to be issued in the names of 10 members of the Bassatne family, including 160 shares for Riad Bassatne. The allegations did not prevent the Energy Ministry from awarding it a spot fuel import contract in January to partially fill the gap created by the end of the contract with Sonatrach, after the latter did not renew the deal. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg. In 2003, for example, BB Naft agreed to guarantee and meet the obligations of a loan obtained by BB Energy (Asia) Pte Ltd. from the Standard Chartered Bank of Singapore. Asked about Rosnefts offer and the fuel cargo payment, a spokesman for BB Energy said the company had not completed the transaction, under guidance from legal counsel. The contract may be summarized as follows: Sonatrach will give its name to the shipments of Baha Bassatne, who buys fuel from the Swiss company Vitol, for 3.5 dollars per metric ton, while he makes 25 dollars as profit in his deals with the end customer in Lebanon. With approximately 24 million metric tonnes of physical crude oil, petroleum products and gas traded annually, BBE is one of the most active gas-oil, gasoline, fuel oil and bitumen traders. The Cuban Embassy in Washington did not answer a comment request for this story. Khalid Mahmood (Labour) has committed up to 15 hours a month advising the Policy Exchange think tank on issues including extremism. Tell Grant Shapps to stop giving away Emissions Trading Scheme permits, Former energy minister John Hayes, who has likened climate protesters to Radical Islam, has received a 50,000 salary from BB Energy since 2018. The instructions to the BB Naft shareholders were dated and signed in Beirut, but the agreement for the guarantee was signed by lawyers and verified by the office of the BNP Paribas bank in Marrousi, Greece. Ltd., BB Energy (Gulf) DMCC and BB Holding S.A.L. One of the markets may have been Ecuador. Corruption policy, and our KYC and recruitment procedures to support our stance that we will not Then Paterson resigned, cancelling future parliamentary votes. Companies with Cuban capital or activities on the island. The government was forced to go back on itself and announced there would be a vote on Patersons suspension. Listed as a director of one of the companies is a brother of Gen. Luis Alberto Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja husband of Cuban ruler Raul Castros daughter and powerful head of the Cuban armed forces business conglomerate, GAESA. BB Energy is not known to be involved in fracking but says that it sells oil around the world - and is one of the largest traders in the Mediterranean. Shuja Malik of BBC Urdu visited a village where women have been hired to work in the milk centre. The inspectorate registered many irregularities and estimated that this branchs deals with the parent company, Sonatrach, and the ministry of defence involved inflated bills. The judiciarys opening of this file occured to the beat of a political debate that the judiciary does not seem to be far from, especially as opening such a file occurred according to a report presented by the leader in the the Aounist party, lawyer Wadih Akl, and investigations were conducted by Judge Ghada Aoun. Few traders had room to receive physical barrels at Cushing. Digital Subscription $1,909 Premium Subscription $3,179 Best Value The document also said that the payment by Reliance to Rosneft would also allow PDVSA to meet unspecified contractual obligations to Rosneft. BB Energy (the Group) is pleased to announce the launch of its Improved Cookstove (ICS) Project in Rwanda. Lucia Kassai and . Procs du fuel dfectueux : 22 personnes sur le banc des accuss. Edif. The report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers decries the environmental evangelism and virtue signalling of the governments plan to phase out new petrol and diesel engines by 2030. For over five decades we have been applying our depth of specialist experience to oil refining, logistics, storage and financing across the world. Miramar Playa. After the report was published, Reliance did not respond to further questions from Reuters about why the PDVSA internal document proposed Reliance pay Rosneft a marketing fee related to the supply of crude under the Indian firms long-term supply contract with PDVSA. Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). The governments own Climate Change Committee warned in March that there is little, if any, room for increased fossil gas consumption if the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement are to be met. BB Naft did business with Cuba between 1992 and 2001, trading oil for sugar for $300 million, with credit facilities at low interest rate, Coronado wrote. However, Reuters was unable to independently verify if the agreement was implemented and remains in force. After Rafik Damak was appointed by Ould Kaddour as the manager of the London branch in October 2017, the latter was able to remove many of the companys traditional clients out of the way. Hayes, who was once described as the champion of the motorist during his time as a transport minister, also recently contributed to a report critical of the government's net-zero policies. PDVSAs contemplated payment agreement with Rosneft is part of a series of methods used by Maduros government to gain access to cash, including selling Central Bank gold reserves. 11:07 AM | 31 Jan, 2023 . Sonatrach signed the contract while Ali ibn-Buzeid was the manager of the London branch, and Muhammad Shawki Rahhal was the marketing manager, who had been accused in the first Sonatrach lawsuit. How the 61-year-old embargo is blocking Cubans from finding sponsors in the U.S. Furthermore, in this context, the Lebanese judiciarys decision to seize this file can be explained long after companies have been getting commissions on the import of fuel. A letter sent in 1998 by a Mossack Fonseca employee to the international trade office at state-run Petroecuador referred to documents sent by BB Naft required to register the company. A 2005 fax also points to an initial contact with the Venezuelan governments Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). That the energy industry carries heightened corruption risks is well documented: when the OECD analysed 427 anti-bribery enforcement actions in 2014, they found that almost one in five related to the extractive industries. The response of Sonatrachs representative in Lebanon, Tarek Fawal, was quick, as he declared the companys willingness to cooperate with the Ministry of Energy to resolve the issues related to what he called the lack of conformity of the last shipment of fuel to the specifications, noting that this shipmentestimated at 38,000 tonswas examined by three different international offices who confirmed that it in fact met the specifications stipulated in the contract. Regardless of whether payments flowed directly to PDVSA or remained in Russia to pay down debt, the proposed approach appears to present no violation of sanctions by any of the entities because no U.S. citizens, currency, companies or financial institutions seem to be involved, according to four sanctions experts consulted by Reuters. In an email, an official wrote that Matt Hancock, health secretary at the time, would send a letter to universities asking for loans of the various things we need. Those front companies, the source added, also help Cuba carry out foreign trade transactions in U.S. dollars, forbidden by the embargo until President Barack Obama lifted the restriction earlier this year. One of the more intriguing schemes mentioned in the documents puts Cuba at the heart of a deal to sell Russian oil to Latin America through a company registered in Panama by the Bassatne family. Beefing up global enforcement around corruption By. This case points to the rampant corruption in the sector. A State Department spokeswoman said: We encourage companies, banks, and other institutions to refrain from providing services that support (Maduros) repressive practices.. The Energy Ministry responded to criticism by explaining that resorting to large oil refineries made it possible to limit the commissions charged by intermediaries, and therefore limited the risk. The women pushing boundaries in Pakistans rural milk marketIn rural Pakistan women milk cows, but male relatives take the milk to male-run collection centres. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Several shipments over at least the past three years were found to be non-compliant with quality standards. He was one of the witnesses in the pretrial investigation. The Panama Papers, documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the McClatchy Washington Bureau, Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, among others, contain hundreds of thousands of pages from the files of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama law firm with offices in 33 other countries. Forgery, using counterfeit documents, bribery, fraud and professional misconduct these are the charges brought against 22 people and entities following a pretrial investigation into a case of. The Covid-19 public inquiry is a historic chance to find out what really happened. The long list of companies linked to the Cuban government or active in Cuba also includes Sanford Management Financial Ltd.; Commercial Mercadu S.A. (linked to Panamericana); Amadis Compaa Naviera S.A.; Seagull and Seafoods, S.A.; Mavis Group S.A.; Octagon Industria Ltd; Travelnet; and Venus Associates Inc., among others. ZR Energy DMCC was not aware of any deficiency and relied on the representations of independent and internationally recognised third-party testers who certified that it was on specification when ZR Energy DMCC handled the cargo, a representative of ZR Energy DMCC said. This means you can get up to 7,500 worth of measures installed for a maximum contribution of 2,500. Labiofam S.A. bought all the shares of BioAsia Ltd. in 2009. The offer letter, seen by Reuters with its date redacted, said that Rosneft had agreed with PDVSA to pay BB Energys $26 million debt to the Venezuelan state oil company and then to seek payment from BB Energy via a bank transfer or an equivalent oil cargo. In response to Reuters story, Rosneft has denied it has acted as an intermediary for payments to PDVSA. All of Britain's Big Six energy suppliers, EDF Energy , Innogy's Npower, E.ON, Scottish Power, SSE and Centrica's British Gas, have submitted bids in a tender run by regulator Ofgem to . This story was originally published June 7, 2016, 10:06 AM. The managing team of Sonatrach, at that time, instructed Sonatrach Petroleum Corporation (London branch) to carry out the deal.The deal that was negotiated then created the branch of Sonatrach in London, a front for a Lebanese trader named Baha Bassatne, whose company (BB Energy) had been receiving a lions share of the profit margin obtained from these triangular business processes. As the pandemic highlighted, it is a mechanism for the enrichment of the tiny elite of business people who have an inside track to ministers and top civil servants. The U.S. Treasury Department declined to respond to a request for comment. The testimonies suggest that this system has been in place for years, resulting in Lebanon purchasing tainted fuel under a contract signed in 2005 with a subsidiary of Algerias Sonatrach Petroleum Corporation. For over five decades we have been applying our depth of specialist experience to oil refining, logistics, storage and financing across the world. From the beginning of the pandemic, Labour leader Keir Starmer spent nearly all his time agreeing with Boris Johnson in a show of national unity. Above all, the government remains ahead in the opinion polls even though it presides over one of the worst death rates in the world. (An attorney for Hleiss, who has been accused of fleeing, has publicly denounced certain aspects of the legal procedures.). In 2015, BB Energy won Ecuadoran contracts for more than three million barrels of naphtha, a petroleum distillate. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - (This April 18 story corrects to make clear Reuters could not determine payments were made under the proposed arrangement, removes reference to Evrofinance Mosnarbank and clarifies that experts see no violation of sanctions). The need for transparency in that case is even more pressing given the fact that the director of the Oil Installations, Sarkis Hleiss, is at the center of investigations into the fuel import scandal. Our experienced traders are situated in our offices throughout the globe; industry specialists who count gas, crude oil, light and middle distillates, as well as bitumen, as their specialities. The branch he was managing, which was a subject for the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance, was dissolved. In his self-pitying resignation letter he blamed the cruel world of politics. Link to this Report. Private landlords and housing associations may apply for a grant on behalf of tenants who meet the eligibility criteria. Mansour had initially leveled the same accusations against the Lebanese company ZR Group Holding SAL and issued an arrest warrant for its owner, Teddy Rahmeh, which was withdrawn after bail was posted. The CEEC was made up of local residents who are . It has since been renewed four times. The Swiss lawyer did not respond to El Nuevo Herald requests for comments on this story. Randox later received a 347 million contract. On top of Patersons 81,932 salary, he took home 8,333 a month to lobby on behalf ofhealthcare company Randox Laboratories. Fresh scrutiny has been applied after it was revealed former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox was being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds advising the British Virgin Islands' government in a corruption investigation. This was in addition to his 49,140 directors salary. Formed in the 1960s, the group's activities span six continents. The company said it saved Ghana over $2.8million when it sold the crude to the firm at a discount of $2 instead of the normal $5 a barrel. Many of the Mossack Fonseca emails and documents show the relationship between BB Naft and the BB Energy group through the years. Instead, investigations have revealed that at least two companies owned by Lebanese businessmen, BB Energy and ZR Energy, were bringing in the fuel. 3. BBE Renewables was established to diversify from Oil & Gas by investing and financing renewable projects. Owen Patersonthe MP who lobbied for private companies in the pandemic (Picture: Flickr/ NFU Pics). By Irina Slav - Sep 20, 2021, 9:30 AM CDT. An accountant for the British company All Worlds Food Ltd, Jose Da Silva, answered: I do not know the reasons why the documents were certified by a Swiss notary. Since sanctions were imposed, Reliance has made such purchases with the full knowledge and approval of the U.S. Department of State (USDOS), Reliance said. This was set to be voted on in parliament. The Office for Budget Responsibility warned in July that while the costs of reaching net zero are significant, they could be much higher if the government delays acting until 2030. Sir John's earnings put him among the most well paid MPs. The subsidiary subcontracted the deal to two private companies BB Energy, owned by the Bassatne family, and, beginning in 2017, Dubai-based ZR Energy DMCC, owned by Ibrahim Zaouk. This evolutionary approach not only applies to our services, but also our people. This article was published in LOGI's May 2020 newsletter in partnership with Kulluna Irada. The deal between the Lebanese and Algerian governments was to provide the Lebanese market mainly with heavy fuel oil to meet the needs of power plants, a fuel that Algeria does not produce in sufficient quantities, as the Algerian oil Saharan Blend is known for being a light crude type. At the time of renewal of the contracts related to supplying the Lebanese market in December 2018, ZR Energy, owned by Teddy and Rimon Rahma, took a share of it for 3.75 USD/metric ton for Sonatrach, the thing which Tarek Fawal insisted on denying in his interview to the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar. Since 2018, John Hayes, who served as an energy minister in David Camerons government, has worked for BB Energy as a strategic adviser. The current legal proceeding is limited to the Baltic, the ship carrying the poor-quality fuel, which was delivered in March 2020 by ZR Energy DMCC. Rahmeh, like the other defendants, presented preemptory defenses during the pretrial phase, which the judiciary accepted, except related to the charge of bribery, which it upheld. Little is known inside the island about the Cuban governments companies abroad, but Havana economist Omar Everleny wrote in the early 2000s that there were more than 100 entities with the participation of Cuban capital, founded as mixed [state-private] companies or as branches of companies based on the island operating abroad in areas such as construction, agriculture, food, medicine, mining, finance and science., Everleny, recently fired from the University of Havanas Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, noted the paradox that a country that lacks the capital for its own development has invested in other countries. The motive, he speculated, is the U.S. embargo that forced the establishment of a network of companies around the world to warehouse and market products from the sea, among them lobsters and shrimp., Today the export of products from the fishing industry is carried out through those companies, he said, adding that Cuban officials also created an international network of companies to warehouse and sell the famous Cuban cigars.. The spoiled fuel scandal is a result of the commercial practices of the Sonatrach executives in collusion with Lebanese merchants, both of which were condoned by the relevant authorities in both Algeria and Lebanon. Companies registered abroad are legally not Cuban, according to the source, and could be used for dollar-denominated transactions. ZR Energy DMCC wrote on its website, ZR Energy DMCC and Mr. Zaouk are incidental victims of this sinister power struggle.. The Covid-19 public inquiry is a historic chance to find out what really.. 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