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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Is Trafigura deal linked to the Cockpit Country?</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>HEART TO HEART</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dear Reader,<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is a principle of God that can never change - not by man - not by emperors, kings, presidents or prime ministers. It is the principle that says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is another principle articulated by the late Dr Martin Luther King Jr on that day in Selma, Alabama, when he declared, "Truth pressed to earth will always rise again."<P class=StoryText align=justify>I don't care what anybody says, the "Trafigura truth pressed to earth will surely rise again", and that is precisely what is happening with the emergence of the Cockpit Country debate. The question is, are the two connected?
There has been quite a bit of speculation surrounding the issue, and about the connection between the two, and no wonder. Trafigura and Cockpit appear to be like two peas in a pod - same look, same nature, except the details of how they are conjoined remains sketchy.<P class=StoryText align=justify>What we know is that some of the same players are operating, and that the bottom line is money - big money. One common denominator is the colourful and checkered Marc Rich, the commodities dealer with strong ties to Jamaica. Speculation is that he is a silent partner in Trafigura, and we know for certain that he has interest in Jamaican bauxite. It was Rich who reportedly formed the Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP), during the time of his long association with the bauxite giant, Alcoa. It's reported that Alcoa is now purchasing a company called Century Aluminum, 40 per cent owned by Glencore International, formerly Marc Rich and Company.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The total world trade in aluminium is over US$30 billion a year. According to writer Craig Copetas, "Rich controlled over one-third of the aluminium that gets into the open market, and was the world's largest independent dealer, trading about two million tons of ingot annually. His total sales were second only to those of Alcoa."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Somewhere around the mid-1980s, the price of aluminium dropped. Alcoa, one of the biggest businesses here at home, shut down its plant, putting our government in serious trouble, particularly at a time when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put severe constraints on the country. Alcoa agreed to lease the plant to the Jamaican government, but someone had to be found to buy the aluminium produced.
Rich signed a 10-year agreement to buy most of what Alcoa produced in Jamaica, so from 1986 to 1995, Rich received a guaranteed four million tonnes of alumina annually, at about half the market price.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The question that is on a lot of people's minds is, could there be a link between Trafigura and the Cockpit Country? In other words, was Trafigura's $31 million for an "in" to the metal-rich Cockpit Country? It is very curious that the issue of mining in the Cockpit Country should come on the heels of the Trafigura scandal, particularly since no one knows, except those in the PNP, who cut the deal and what Trafigura paid for. The PNP said that the money was a "donation". Trafigura said no, and up until this moment, the Jamaican public has absolutely no knowledge of what Trafigura paid for.
There are myriad questions that need to be asked. What happened to the Trafigura investigation? What exactly did Trafigura pay for? We were told that the Dutch government was undertaking an investigation; what has happened to that? Why has Mr Golding gone quiet on the Trafigura issue, after he pressed so hard for an investigation?<P class=StoryText align=justify>What is the current status of agreement between the Jamaican government and Trafigura? Is Trafi
<SPAN class=Subheadline>HEART TO HEART</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dear Reader,<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is a principle of God that can never change - not by man - not by emperors, kings, presidents or prime ministers. It is the principle that says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is another principle articulated by the late Dr Martin Luther King Jr on that day in Selma, Alabama, when he declared, "Truth pressed to earth will always rise again."<P class=StoryText align=justify>I don't care what anybody says, the "Trafigura truth pressed to earth will surely rise again", and that is precisely what is happening with the emergence of the Cockpit Country debate. The question is, are the two connected?
There has been quite a bit of speculation surrounding the issue, and about the connection between the two, and no wonder. Trafigura and Cockpit appear to be like two peas in a pod - same look, same nature, except the details of how they are conjoined remains sketchy.<P class=StoryText align=justify>What we know is that some of the same players are operating, and that the bottom line is money - big money. One common denominator is the colourful and checkered Marc Rich, the commodities dealer with strong ties to Jamaica. Speculation is that he is a silent partner in Trafigura, and we know for certain that he has interest in Jamaican bauxite. It was Rich who reportedly formed the Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP), during the time of his long association with the bauxite giant, Alcoa. It's reported that Alcoa is now purchasing a company called Century Aluminum, 40 per cent owned by Glencore International, formerly Marc Rich and Company.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The total world trade in aluminium is over US$30 billion a year. According to writer Craig Copetas, "Rich controlled over one-third of the aluminium that gets into the open market, and was the world's largest independent dealer, trading about two million tons of ingot annually. His total sales were second only to those of Alcoa."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Somewhere around the mid-1980s, the price of aluminium dropped. Alcoa, one of the biggest businesses here at home, shut down its plant, putting our government in serious trouble, particularly at a time when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put severe constraints on the country. Alcoa agreed to lease the plant to the Jamaican government, but someone had to be found to buy the aluminium produced.
Rich signed a 10-year agreement to buy most of what Alcoa produced in Jamaica, so from 1986 to 1995, Rich received a guaranteed four million tonnes of alumina annually, at about half the market price.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The question that is on a lot of people's minds is, could there be a link between Trafigura and the Cockpit Country? In other words, was Trafigura's $31 million for an "in" to the metal-rich Cockpit Country? It is very curious that the issue of mining in the Cockpit Country should come on the heels of the Trafigura scandal, particularly since no one knows, except those in the PNP, who cut the deal and what Trafigura paid for. The PNP said that the money was a "donation". Trafigura said no, and up until this moment, the Jamaican public has absolutely no knowledge of what Trafigura paid for.
There are myriad questions that need to be asked. What happened to the Trafigura investigation? What exactly did Trafigura pay for? We were told that the Dutch government was undertaking an investigation; what has happened to that? Why has Mr Golding gone quiet on the Trafigura issue, after he pressed so hard for an investigation?<P class=StoryText align=justify>What is the current status of agreement between the Jamaican government and Trafigura? Is Trafi