Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator

PNP General Secretary, Colin Campbell. - File photos

The Trafigura Beheer saga took a new twist yesterday when a startling revelation surfaced about the donation from the Dutch-based firm to the People's National Patry (PNP).

Responding to a query from Hot 102 CVM News, the company's United Kingdom office said, through both fax and email, that as part of the development of its business in Jamaica, it has a "commercial agreement with CCOC Associates and payments were made under that agreement."

However, the nature of the agreement was not stated.

This is in stark contrast to consistent statements by chairman of the PNP, Robert Pickersgill, and the party's general secretary, Colin Campbell, who have stated categorically that the $31 million received from Trafigura was a donation to the party.

Trafigura Beheer said it conducts business in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials.

It said it also "observes the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises."

A high-level source in the PNP told The Gleaner yesterday that party officials contacted the Dutch-based company, which said it would clarify the statement today.

account issue

And, general secretary of the PNP, Colin Campbell, said yesterday that he had no input in the naming of the CCOC Association account, which is at the centre of the party's campaign finance issue.

His remarks came in the wake of revelations by chairman of the Transport Authority, Norton Hinds that the CCOC Association account was opened in 1992 when Campbell entered politics.

According to Mr. Hinds, former chairman of the association, a group named CCOC Association

was formed to support Mr. Campbell. CCOC means Colin Campbell Our Candidate.

The PNP General Secretary has vehemently denied knowledge that the letters CCOC on the account were directly linked to his name.

He told The Gleaner yesterday that it was the decision of Mr. Hinds to name the account 'Colin Campbell Our Candidate'.

Questioned about his previous denial of the likely meaning of CCOC, Mr. Campbell maintained that it was simply some letters chosen for the account by the group of supporters, which did not mean anything.

He also denied that it was a personal account but said it was used to support his fundraising campaign and other areas of the party's administration.

In a related matter, a Gleaner source said the bank employee at the centre of the leaked documents in the Trafigura debacle, is former head of foreign inflows, Sonia Christie.

First Caribbean International reported yesterday that it had made a breakthrough in its investigations to determine who breached the bank's regulations by leaking copies of cheques drawn on a PNP campaign account.

Christie has since been fired by the bank.

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