So the seller had to be told that payment would be in euros from a bank in Spain, for example, and Cuba lost on the currency exchange.. 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. 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. In recent years, the company has become increasingly active in LPG and LNG. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnsons former senior adviser, says that the attempt to discredit the system that found then MP Owen Paterson guilty was really about the PM and his own lies. 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. Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region's best source of business information. Like the extractives sector, the renewables industry requires substantial capital investments, which can come with substantial risks of . Thats why the Tories manage to survive scandal after scandal. The Panama Papers also show that Labiofam S.A., the marketing branch of Grupo Empresarial Labiofam, a Cuban government company that produces vaccines, medicines and other products for the control of carriers of diseases, owns shares in BioAsia Ltd. That company was founded with an investment of 10 million euros from Vietnam, southern Asia and the United Kingdom and lists Mossack Fonseca as its registered agent. 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. Wars, natural disasters and economic downturns have historically exposed children to the danger of trafficking and illegal adoption. Formed in the 1960s, the group's activities span six continents. One of the markets may have been Ecuador. The Cuban government also hid its control of offshore companies by creating still other limited liability companies whose sole objective was to appear in registries as owners of the offshore companies and disguise Cubas hand in them. This was on top of his standard MP salary of nearly 82,000. 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. Please check individual images for licensing details. Such deals, however, may be authorized by the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control or the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security. BB Energy, which has a strong presence in Arab and African markets (see here ), has been embroiled in a legal spat in recent months with Saudi-Ethiopian businessman Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi. Mango madness in IndiaSouth Asia diaspora reporter Gaggan Sabherwal shares the story of the Indian couple whove employed security guards after discovering they had planted an extremely rare mango tree by mistake at $50 a mango they aren't taking any chances! They include BB Energy Trading Ltd., BB Energy Management S.A., BB Energy Holdings NV., BB Energy B.V., BB Energy (Asia) Pte. Edif. Few traders had room to receive physical barrels at Cushing. The proposed payment mechanism is the latest sign of the growing proximity of Venezuelas cash-strapped government to Russia as the United States tightens a financial noose around Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who it describes as a dictator. The upgrade of the Number 10 flat is now expected to be the subject of another inquiry. Hayes declared his role at the oil traders, and there is no evidence that rules have been broken. Its worth mentioning that influential Lebanese politicians, from both ends, support these companies and compete to impose them as fuel importers. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and conditions and privacy policy. The Covid-19 public inquiry is a historic chance to find out what really happened. The analysis and opinions they express through LOGI are their own and do not reflect the view of their respective employers. 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. It showed that fuel was of acceptable quality, when another test showed it was not. We are committed to acting as a model corporate citizen at all times and benefitting the local communities in which we operate. A letter sent to the Panamanian law firm in 1997 requested assistance organizing a fishing operation in the Turks and Caicos Islands with Cuban-flagged fishing boats.. Four high-level suspects, including Hleiss, and Teddy Rahme and Ibrahim al-Zouk of ZR Energy, did not respond to court summons and arrest warrants were issued for them. This comes on top of his standard MP salary of 81,932. He said, There is a will to hold those involved in the scandal accountable.. Last month the independent Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found Paterson had breached the tame paid advocacy rules. All of which can give our clients a competitive edge. Entity: B.B. 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. 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). 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. He added that in 1996 there was agreement on a triangular Russia/Cuba/Naft Trading S.A. deal to deliver Russian fuel to other markets for a number of tens of millions of US$.. 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. Corruption policy, and our KYC and recruitment procedures to support our stance that we will not According to an undated internal PDVSA document, Indias Reliance Industries Ltd - PDVSAs largest cash-paying client was also asked by PDVSA to pay Rosneft directly in April for oil sales under a long-term supply contract with the Venezuelan company. The leaked documents confirm the existence of these types of foreign companies, with at least partial Cuban government capital. 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. The Panama Papers show Dupont-Willemin as a director of a total of 49 offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, five in Panama and two each in the Bahamas and Seychelles islands. 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. Security agencies have warned against gangs attempting to kidnap unaccompanied children. The London branch of the Algerian Sonatrach published a statement through the Algerian News Agency, saying that whoever was presented by the media as an employee of Sonatrach is not, in fact, an employee in the company, but an independent marine agent who monitors shipments in Lebanon for the benefit of the companys branch in London. The Algerian company tried to imply that the issue is limited to the technical specifications of the fuel. Sir John's earnings put him among the most well paid MPs. 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. 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. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. (An attorney for Hleiss, who has been accused of fleeing, has publicly denounced certain aspects of the legal procedures.). The Committee on Standards suggested Paterson should just be suspended from the Commons for 30 days. All rights reserved. Russia has publicly said the U.S. sanctions are illegal and it would work with Venezuela to weather them. Its got through to him that there is a chance to inflict real blows on the Tories. 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. Fuel poverty and energy efficiency are inevitably linked, the less efficient a property is the costlier it is to heat. BB Energy Group Holding Ltd. (DIFC) is managed by a Board of Directors comprising seven board members with five executive members and two non-executive members. Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen in Caracas, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, Julia Payne in London; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Simon Webb,David Gaffen and Marguerita Choy. It is assumed that companies will have more trust in documents certified in Switzerland than in Cuba.. And most trade union leaders went down the same path. Add your voice to our engaged subscriber community and be part of the change. . John Hayes works for BB Energy as a strategic adviser, Politicians accused of being worryingly cosy with oil and gas firms as its revealed almost one in ten Tory peers has financial stake in the sector. Public documents show for example that Vitol and Glencore have used intermediaries to funnel over US$31 million in bribes to corrupt Petrobras employees in the past so that they may win big contracts, along with acquiring other benefits. At times, however, the shield of anonymity over Cuban companies is not very effective. 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. The documents reveal previously unknown details about the Cuban governments economic maneuvers abroad and the foreign companies that do business with Havana as some of the firms tried to hide Cubas hand in business deals to skirt the U.S. embargo. At parliament we will try to make sure that high level responsibility is also explored - including all the ministers who stayed silent over the years., Fuel import scandal shows why transparency matters. Reports obtained by LOGI show that tests of one batch of fuel showed it could contain chemical waste. The quality of the fuel was so bad that it caused material damage to turbines at both the Jiyeh and Zouk power plants. Miqati Says Cyprus Still Waiting for Lebanon's Ratification of Maritime Border Agreement. 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. They usually resort to those intermediaries when entering new markets that are unfamiliar to them, in order to benefit from their status inside this market, which they have done in several Asian countries before building direct relationships with the clients. The government was forced to go back on itself and announced there would be a vote on Patersons suspension. 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. Hayes declared his role at the oil. 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. BB Energy (the Group) is pleased to announce the launch of its Improved Cookstove (ICS) Project in Rwanda. A former Tory Party chairman told The Sunday Times, Once you pay your 3 million, you get your peerage.. Overview of anti-corruption in the renewable energy sector The renewable energy sector is a rapidly growing market that is crucial to increasing access to energy and supporting climate change mitigation. This article was originally published in French. The Venezuelan companys shipping schedules showed that Reliance was loading a cargo from PDVSA as recently as April 20. 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. He receives a salary of 25,000 a year. 2. 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. He failed on a number of occasions to declare those interests. 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. 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. In view of the foregoing debate, were forced to return to the commercial relationship between Sonatrach and the Lebanese Ministry of Energy, and the pressure exercised by former Sonatrach CEO, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, to adopt ZR Energy trading company as a second intermediary besides Baha Bassatne, as a supplier in the Algerian companys name; the thing that occurred a year and a half before opening the file. Responding to Reuters story, Reliance strongly denied making any payments via third parties to PDVSA. BBE Renewables was established to diversify from Oil & Gas by investing and financing renewable projects. Venezuelas oil ministry, its information ministry - which handles media for the government - and PDVSA did not respond to questions. This is an actual Pandoras box that goes far beyond the chapter currently in the hands of the judiciary, he said. 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. This evolutionary approach not only applies to our services, but also our people. 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. The Russian oil scheme appears to have been affected by the agreement between Cuba and Venezuela to exchange oil for medical services, and BB Naft expanded its work in Cuba in 2007 to include the sale of spare parts and batteries for autos and trucks, work boots, farm machinery, hardware for USD 5.3 million.. 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. Above all, the government remains ahead in the opinion polls even though it presides over one of the worst death rates in the world. The documents found in the Panama Papers are dated as far back as the early 1990s, when the Cuban economy crashed following the end of Moscows massive subsidies to the island. All individuals involved in this initiative - including co-founders, advisory board members, and experts - are serving in their personal capacity. This article was published in LOGI's May 2020 newsletter in partnership with Kulluna Irada. While former energy ministers who signed and renewed the contract have been questioned, they are not currently at the center of criminal investigations. Surprisingly, the contract, long presented as a state-to-state agreement, was in fact signed with Sonatrachs offshore subsidiary, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands. Boris Johnson initially backed Paterson. The document showed that PDVSA and Reliance would pay Rosneft a marketing fee equivalent to around 3 percent of the sale price, split between them. In response to Reuters story, Rosneft has denied it has acted as an intermediary for payments to PDVSA. Somebody did and bedlam ensued. Campuses would have to give up testing resources and send them to Randox, they continued. A convoluted email by a Cuban lawyer for Tecnica Hidraulica, registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), showed all its shares were held by Cubas Tcnica Hidrulica, S.A. Starmer last week called on Johnson to answer, apologise and act over sleaze allegations. 3. In particular, the expensive refurbishment of the Downing Street flat. 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. Riad Bassatne and his son Wael remained owners of the remaining shares. Starmer even chose last week to announce that Labour was no longer in favour of abolishing the House of Lords. The money is in our account and as yet we have not paid anyone, said the spokesman. Of his standard MP salary of nearly 82,000 as April 20 not reflect the view of their respective employers substantial. Confirm the existence of these types bb energy corruption foreign companies, with at least partial Cuban government capital salary of.... In LPG and LNG s earnings put him among the most well MPs! 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