Wedderburn trashes Christie's LNG report

Just over two weeks after the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) issued a report on Jamaica's liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, another of the main players has described the document as "shoddy".

Coordinator of the LNG project, Stephen Wedderburn, said his initial reading of the report has revealed several errors of fact, misrepresentations and unfounded conclusions which are damaging to his character.

The OCG had suggested a conspiratorial relationship among Wedderburn, the former Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica chairman, Ian Moore, and the Exmar consortium which was chosen to build a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for LNG.

The OCG had asked the police and director of public prosecutions to investigate whether Moore and Wedderburn used their public offices in a fraudulent manner to elicit benefits for themselves or Exmar consortium.

Moore and the Exmar consortium have already denied any wrongdoing in the tender process, but it was not until yesterday that a response came from Wedderburn.

In his 11-page release, which he said is a preliminary response, he has asked Contractor General Greg Christie to apologise for what he says are erroneous assertions in the report.

Wedderburn accused Christie of a biased presentation of information, saying the OCG ignored available evidence that contradicted his findings.

ignored evidence

For example, he said while the OCG reported that he had a bias towards Exmar, Christie ignored evidence that he advocated for Moore to travel to Bangkok so he could engage other FSRU providers.

He added that in a bid to increase competition, he also advised several potential competitors of Exmar that the company was establishing itself in Jamaica and urged them to also take steps to make their presence felt.

Wedderburn also described as blatantly erroneous the findings that he and Moore acted in a conspiratorial manner and without the knowledge of their superiors, pointing to several meetings with the board and then Energy Minister James Robertson, on the matter.

Wedderburn stated that the OCG acted irresponsibly in suggesting there might be a relationship between him and Moore outside of their jobs at the PCJ, as there was no evidence to support that assertion.

Weddderburn conceded that Exmar consortium had an advantage in the bidding process, but said the advantage was as a result of the extensive work Exmar undertook with respect to introducing LNG to Jamaica since 2006.

He also dismissed the OCG's recommendation that the project again be put to tender.

He said it was based on the flawed logic that the advantage would cease to exist if there was a retender.

He was also concerned the OCG used data from as far back as 2006 instead of confining the probe to after 2009 when the tender was issued.

In the meantime, Wedderburn said he was peeved the OCG did not give him a chance to respond to the findings before they were published.

He indicated he was considering taking legal action in an effort to clear his name.