Trafigura hearing for Monday

THE CASE in which some members of the People's National Party (PNP) and its president, Portia Simpson Miller, are being asked to respond under oath to questions relating to the 2006 Trafigura affair has been placed on the Supreme Court list for hearing on Monday.

However, court officials disclosed yesterday that the matter is going to be adjourned as some of the parties in the case are not ready to proceed.

The Dutch authorities want answers as to how a $31-million donation was made to the PNP by the Dutch oil-trading company Trafigura Beheer.

Trafigura had an oil-lifting agreement with Jamaica at the time of the donation.

Dutch authorities want the parties to respond truthfully to questions that have been prepared for them.

Lawyers from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will ask the questions.

In December last year, following a request from Dutch authorities, lawyers from the office of the DPP applied to the Supreme Court under the Mutual Assistance (Criminal Matters) Act for officials from the PNP to respond to the questions.

PNP Chairman Robert Pickersgill and former government minister Colin Campbell are reported to be among those listed on the court order.

Trafigura has come under scrutiny in the Netherlands as such donations to political parties are against the law there.

Campbell, who was at the centre of the scandal, was forced to resign as information minister.

DPP Paula Llewellyn ruled in October last year that she did not have sufficient material in the report from the Office of the Contractor General to form the basis for the matter to be referred to the police for further investigation.