The Lebanese judiciary expanded investigation into the fuel import file, and considered that the Algerian company charges commissions just because it is a front for the actual fuel supplier. Last month he and. Khalid Mahmood (Labour) has committed up to 15 hours a month advising the Policy Exchange think tank on issues including extremism. LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - Oil trading firm BB Energy has hired Jacques Erni as its new chief financial officer (CFO) starting Aug. 2 based in Dubai, the company said. 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. Hayes declined to comment. 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). Guillermo Faustino Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja also appears as the representative of seven foreign companies registered in Cuba: Acemex Management Company Limited; Caroil Transport Marine Limited; Nautilus Shipping Overseas Corp.; Northsouth Maritime Company Limited; Gulf Lake Enterprises Ltd.; Acando Shipping Co. Ltd.; and Gilmar Project Finance Establishment. 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. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Which groups shape the stories we see in the press; which voices are silenced, and why? Mossack Fonseca was listed as the registered agent for most of the companies. BB Energy Trading Ltd. BB House 12-14 Ansdell Street London W8 5BN United Kingdom T: +44 20 7938 0500 F: +44 20 7938 0501 www.bbenergy.com Page 1 of 2 ANTI-SLAVERY STATEMENT . The Cuban government used the Panama law firm involved in the Panama Papers to create a string of companies in offshore financial havens that allowed it to sidestep the U.S. embargo in its commercial operations. Tory whips threatened MPs with the loss of local funding unless they fell into line. They include Petrobras, Vitol, and Glencore Limited. Several shipments over at least the past three years were found to be non-compliant with quality standards. However, he expressed regret that the court system had not dug deeper. With its economy reeling from years of recession and a sharp decline in oil production, Venezuela was already struggling to finance imports and government spending before Washington imposed tough restrictions on PDVSA in January. Rosneft would also make a profit by receiving an intermediation fee, the source and an internal PDVSA document said. The justification of the Sonatrach executives for adopting this type of contract (Fronting), which is renewed every three years, was the position of the intermediary in the Lebanese market, in addition to his taking all the risks related to the deals. Instead of seeking to polish and rescue parliaments reputation, Labour and the unions should be campaigning for a complete clean out of corrupted MPs. The Liberal Democrats have ennobled five donors and the Labour Party, two. As working class people suffered mass deaths during the first phases of the Covid pandemic, Tory MPs and their mates filled their bank accounts. But Cuba kept its links with some of the firms until very recently. He has also compared climate activists to radical Islam. 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. This was set to be voted on in parliament. 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. and Promotora de Cigarros S.L., two companies registered in Spain and involved in the sale of Cuban cigars. 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. One of the directors of both Curtdale and Ardpoint starting in 2011 was Hernn Aguilar Parra, executive director of Grupo Empresarial de Tabaco de Cuba, known as TABACUBA, the governments tobacco monopoly. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package. Some 22 of the biggest donors have gained a seat in the House of Lords in the past 11 years. Link to this Report. BB Naft was listed in the Cuban registry of foreign companies operating on the island as of April of this year, with Riad Bassatne as director. Last month the independent Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found Paterson had breached the tame paid advocacy rules. BB Naft shareholder Wael Bassatne told El Nuevo Herald that his company did not violate the U.S. embargo because it is not registered and does no business in the United States. The practice has been banned since 2019, after a scientific report found it was not possible to accurately predict the probability of earthquakes linked to drilling. 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. BB Energy ("BBE or the Group") was established by the Bassatne Family who started a commodities business in Lebanon in 1937, trading grain and asphalt. Although Labour can now pick up on details of outrageous behaviour, it never offered a different strategy to that which put people before profits during the horror of the pandemic. Security agencies have warned against gangs attempting to kidnap unaccompanied children. Tory MP Bill Wiggin gained 25,000 in bonuses and fees from a tax dodging wealth management firm in Bermuda. Erni was most recently. Subscribe to our newsletters and offers. The methods have frustrated Washington officials, who have in recent days questioned why sanctions have not had a more dramatic impact on Venezuelas finances. According to documents, civil servants were trying to cover for the fact that Randox did not have the equipment it needed. The Tories can get away with corruption and sleaze when theres no real opposition. Campuses would have to give up testing resources and send them to Randox, they continued. To enjoy unlimited access to all LOrient Today content, subscribe. NAFT TRADING S.A. Could Oil and Gas Inspire Change in Lebanon. The money is in our account and as yet we have not paid anyone, said the spokesman. By. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Tainted fuel scandal: 22 people and entities to stand trial. In one transaction, an executive from Rosnefts Geneva trading unit said PDVSA had given its approval for Rosneft to collect payment from trading firm BB Energy for the purchase of 525,000 barrels of fuel oil loaded on Jan. 3, according to an offer letter. Peter Quinter, an expert on U.S. embargo laws and former head of the International Law section of the Florida Bar Association, said the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba generally bars a company with a U.S. presence from doing business with Cuba directly or indirectly through an offshore branch, for example. Its stated aims are to challenge what it describes as the extremely damaging and harmful policies designed to mitigate climate change. BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Lebanon: A web of corruption Lebanon: A web of corruption As Lebanon endures worsening blackouts and fuel shortages, BBC Arabic investigates the. All the other commercial activities were not affected by any sanctions because these regulations do not exist as such, he wrote in an email, adding that Mexico, Canada and the European Union have laws prohibiting their citizens and companies from obeying U.S. sanctions on Cuba. What's more, one of the Algerian state-owned energy firm's subsidiaries has found itself in the crosshairs of a Lebanese court. Billions of dollars have been siphoned off annually into political largesse and party war chests. Standards commissioner Kathryn Stone has carried out three investigations into Johnson in the past three years. Hayes declared his role at the oil. The leaked documents also show that Guillermo Faustino Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja, brother of Gen. Luis Alberto Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja, was appointed in 1999 as a director of Pescatlan S.A., a company incorporated by Mossack Fonseca in the British Virgin Islands in 1991 with an initial capital of $50,000. After the return of Ould Kaddour to Sonatrach as its general manager in April 2017, it was not long before he imposed yet another intermediary besides Baha Bassatne. It targets Tarek Fawal, who is in charge of clearing Sonatrach BVIs transactions related to receiving and unloading fuel shipments in Lebanon, and is accused of bribery, forgery and using counterfeit documents, as well as Zaouk. The branch he was managing, which was a subject for the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance, was dissolved. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a lawyer with knowledge of the proceedings said that there is no [indictment] at this point. It is up to the criminal court to decide on the merits [of the case], and to determine whether ZR Group Holding SAL and Rahmeh are involved in the case. BB Energy places emphasis on environmental protection as well as health and safety, particularly regarding oil-related storage activities. Moreover, he denied any relationship with the ZR Energy trading company. Lebanese judicial sources told Daraj that the investigation will not be limited to the technical specifications of fuel, but will also include the commissions Sonatrach is making. And most trade union leaders went down the same path. Ltd., in February of this year to import 2,880,000 barrels of diesel fuel. In 1963 they entered the oil sector in Lebanon and were primarily involved in local marketing of oil products and importation of Bitumen. 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. Word in the news: black rain Children love it, businesses hate it Pody Lui from BBC Hong Kong explains the rain warning system, and why black rain warnings are taken so seriously. Zaouk is connected to Rahmeh, however, through another company, ZR Energy SAL Offshore, of which Rahmeh is a majority stakeholder and which, along with Zaouk, has a share in ownership of the Lebanese firm Domaz Holding. Companies registered abroad are legally not Cuban, according to the source, and could be used for dollar-denominated transactions. She has formally requested a parliamentary investigation committee be formed to probe the matter. A zero tolerance approach to any deviance from such requirement is adopted throughout the group. This entire case rests on false assumptions backed up by entirely fabricated charges. ZR Group Holding SAL and ZR Energy DMCC are two separate corporate entities. Registered in: Panama Linked countries: Cuba Agent: Mossack Fonseca Search in: The Panama Papers data is current through 2015 read more Incorporated: 21-DEC-1984 Status: Active Connections: Linkurious and Neo4j Officer (3) Intermediary (1) Explore more from Panama Papers Mossack Fonseca The players Lucia Kassai and . Yacoubian said that high-level responsibility for the secret contract with Sonatrach and years of faulty fuel imports should be explored. My journey to journalism: Elodie TotoElodie Toto of BBC Afrique tells the story of what inspired her to become a journalist, and takes us on a journey from the suburbs of Paris to Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In recent years, the company has become increasingly active in LPG and LNG. 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 tainted fuel delivered to the state-owned lectricit du Liban to supply its plants. BB Energy bought oil on the day prices turned negative. There seems to be a tendency to prosecute managers and employees of the Lebanese Al-Zahrani Electricity Company as accomplices and facilitators of these operations; and while ZR Energys owners are being interrogated, the investigations will expand to reach the date of signing the contract with the Algerian company in 2005. Yours faithfully, Kalim Rahman. The case has revealed the need to make all state contracts in the energy sector publicly available, including a 20-year contract signed in 2018 with Russian company Rosneft to rehabilitate and manage the Tripoli Oil Installations. BB Energy's global network of middle distillates comprises of a wide range of products, most prominently jet, kerosene, diesel and heating oil. Public debt could rise to 289% of GDP by the end of the century if climate change is left unchecked, it said. The similar logo and name are explained through an agreement between the two firms that gave ZR Energy DMCC the right to use the brand and credit facility of ZR Group Holding SAL. They also considered that the profit margin of the company (3.5 USD) was fair, as the company is not charged with any liabilities. Following a scandal over the delivery of tainted fuel to the state-owned lectricit du Liban, 22 defendants will appear before the criminal court that upheld the charges, which include accepting bribes and forgery. As Lebanon endures worsening blackouts and fuel shortages, BBC Arabic investigates the disastrous state of the country's electricity sector. His register of interests says he currently earns 50,000 in the role, for about 11 days work a year. One lawyer for BB Naft, Noureddine Kabalan, asked Mossack Fonseca in April of 2008 to create a power of attorney so that the empowered person can be authorized to sign on behalf of the company in Syria and Iraq for specific transactions.. With challenges consistently facing the energy industry, we are constantly evolving, using advanced systems, procedures and processes to provide the best answers for our clients. Starmer last week called on Johnson to answer, apologise and act over sleaze allegations. Thats why the Tories manage to survive scandal after scandal. Riad Bassatne and his son Wael remained owners of the remaining shares. This is an actual Pandoras box that goes far beyond the chapter currently in the hands of the judiciary, he said. Randox later received a 347 million contract. In another document, the lawyer Kabalan instructed Mossack Fonseca in 2005 to issue new shares for BB Naft because the originals had been sold to BB Energy Holdings N.V., a Curacao-based company publicly listed as part of the BB Energy group. 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. Published by Larkham Printers & Publishers Ltd, Correspondence address: PO Box 74955, London E16 9EJ | company registered in England & Wales, number: 1335756, registered address: 71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ. The Public Prosecution in Mount Lebanon has triggered a heavy-caliber scandal, by arresting two dealers who were supposed to supply the Lebanese Electricity Company with Algerian fuel used in generating electricity. We made a separate appeal to examine the contract with Sonatrach, but it was rejected. Three of the four experts said the U.S. Treasury had the latitude to act against companies or governments it deemed to be providing material support to a sanctioned entity, like PDVSA. Tens of thousands of teachers take action, Some workers defied a government strike ban, Teachers report more picket lines than last time, This article is over 1 years, 3 months old, Its not just the bodies that Boris Johnson let pile highits the cash too, reports Sam Ord. Since the Tories takeover of parliament in 2010, nine of the partys former treasurerswho donated huge amountswere given a position as a Lord. 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. Such deals, however, may be authorized by the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control or the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security. But he was forced to U-turn to try and end the wave of sleaze allegations. By April 28, Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Ghada Aoun said 21 people had been arrested in the case, mostly employees of the Oil Installations. He was one of the witnesses in the pretrial investigation. Tory MP Owen Paterson announced his resignation last week following revelations of his shameless lobbying for big businesses. Corruption takes many forms, ranging from grand corruption - the capture of high office of government by elites and the uses of these offices for private gain - to "petty" corruption - the use of bribes or other Employees are required to act honestly and ethically when dealing with business counterparts. We encourage anyone to comment, please consult, 43 Lords have financial interests in fossil fuel industry, How the UK helps the worlds kleptocrats and crooks deliberately, In the fight for racial justice, optimism is not enough, Staff and students in universities across the UK deserve better, The disturbing resurgence of antisemitic conspiracy theories, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 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. Instead, investigations have revealed that at least two companies owned by Lebanese businessmen, BB Energy and ZR Energy, were bringing in the fuel. Last month he and other Tory MPs called for fracking to resume. Those sanctioned include the oil trading firms Swissoil Trading and Malta-based Elemento Ltd., as well as Swissoil owner Philipp Paul Vartan Apikian, Spanish-Venezuelan citizen Francisco Javier D'Agostino Casado, and core facilitator and Italian citizen Alessandro Bazzoni. The internal PDVSA document said the sales would allow the partial completion of the financial scheme of advanced payments between PDVSA and Rosneft. All rights reserved. Ukraine's track record of massive corruption in energy is a sadly familiar story. Its ownership was in the form of anonymous bearer shares the owners are whoever has those shares. We fully anticipate that the final charge will also be dismissed, he said. ZR Group and Mr. Rahmeh were unlawfully indicted on a number of charges, of which all but one have been dropped. Former prime minister Theresa May has made 842,526 giving paid speeches since March 2020. the Home Energy and Conservation Act (HECA) report in Appendix 1. 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