Caption: Dr Roodal Moonilal. Photo: T&T Parliament
By Alicia Chamely
THE height of hypocrisy is how Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs Dr Roodal Moonilal is describing statements by former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley and former energy minister Stuart Young, both of whom are calling for the government to state the terms and conditions under which they received an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licence for the Dragon Gas deal.
Striking back at Rowley and Young, Moonilal asked if they had removed information from the ministry surrounding the previous government’s dealings with Venezuela.
Speaking to media on Friday, before entering the Red House, Port of Spain, Moonilal responded to criticisms by both Rowley and Young, that the government was not being transparent regarding the terms and conditions of the OFAC license, nor had the government indicated what benchmarks had to be met to renew the license in six months.
@azpnews.com Did former Energy Minister Stuart Young take away documents when he demitted office?, asks Dr. Roodal Moonilal. Video: Alicia Chamely @roodal_moonilal99 @uncandproud @uncusasupporters @the_unc_movement #dragongasdeal #documents #ofac #energyminister #license
Responding to this, Moonilal said, “I have taken notes of the statement by both former prime minister Keith Rowley and former minister Stuart Young. I want to indicate that I find it the height of hypocrisy and shamelessness that Mr Young and Dr Rowley would speak to us about terms and conditions of an OFAC license, when we had to go through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), when I personally had to go through the Gazette in Venezuela, to find a copy of the OFAC license that was issued previously to the PNM administration.”
Moonilal said, “There is nothing more in terms of terms and conditions, this is a phased basis, we will now embark on a process of negotiations over transactions, and we will seek to get an agreement that is in the best interest of all stakeholders.”
Hitting back at Rowley and Young, Moonilal revealed that translated documentation was missing from the Ministry’s office.
@azpnews.com No documents in English on former OFAC licence for Dragon gas under PNM, says Energy Minister Dr. Roodal Moonilal. Video: Alicia Chamely @roodal_moonilal99 @uncandproud @uncusasupporters @the_unc_movement #energyminister#ofac #dragongasdeal #license #pnm
Moonilal said, “On entering the Ministry, I asked for a brief on the dragon gas project, I asked for all documents pertaining to that. To this day I can confirm, because I confirmed only a few minutes ago with the permanent secretary, that we have absolutely no document in English dealing with the conditions of the previous dragon gas license.”
“I want to ask squarely to Mr Young, whether or not he took away documents from the Ministry of Energy pertaining to Dragon Gas,” he said.
He dismissed Rowley and Young’s concerns about what was “promised” to the United States, saying the only promise that was made was that neither Keith Rowley nor Stuart Young would not return to the energy sector.
Regarding negotiations, he said when the time to engage with Venezuela he was “very confident and optimistic that we will get a good outcome from this project.”
@azpnews.com Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal says ‘height of hypocrisy’ for Stuart Young and Dr Keith Rowley to as about OFAC licence in Dragon gas deal. Video: Alicia Chamely @roodal_moonilal99 @uncandproud @the_unc_movement @uncusasupporters #energyminister #ofac #dragongasdeal #license #pnm
He continued, “At this point we are just taking it phase one, mission accomplished, we have a clear and viable pathway, we are now going to embark on phase two, which is of course some discussions, negotiations, transactions, pursuant to the OFAC license.”
Moonilal said, “I would ask Mr Young and Dr Rowley, please stay away from this matter and don’t complicate it with mischief, and don’t complicate it with fake news and don’t complicate it with just bacchanal and scandal.”
