Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator

Information and Development Minister, Donald Buchanan, yesterday indicated that the Trafigura scandal which has dogged the Government for the past three weeks, is now history.

He told journalists attending yesterday's sitting of the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing, that the Portia Simpson Miller-led administration has successfully dismissed Opposition charges on the Trafigura Beheer issue.

Mr. Buchanan was speaking at his first post-Cabinet press briefing, since his recent appointment, which came in the wake of the resignation of Colin Campbell as Information and Development Minister, over the Trafigura affair.

He said last Tuesday the Government team led by the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet Ministers, along with Government backbencher K.D. Knight, challenged all allegations brought by the parliamentary Opposition.

"At the end of the day having refuted and really destroyed all the arguments coming from the Opposition, the matter is now at an end," Mr. Buchanan said.

Responding to queries of breaches of international law or the local Banking Act, Mr. Buchanan said if it involved any illegal procedure the matter will be exposed and action taken against offenders.

Meanwhile, Mr. Campbell, who indicated that he would remain as a Senator, seems to be getting support from his former government colleagues.

Valuable contribution

Asked whether Mr. Campbell should maintain his position as a Government Senator, Mr. Buchanan argued that his predecessor felt he could still make a valuable contribution to nation building without being 'fettered'.

Since his resignation as information and development minister and general secretary of the PNP earlier this month, Mr. Campbell has been absent from at least two sittings of the Upper House.

The Trafigura Beheer controversy has rocked the governing PNP since Opposition Leader Bruce Golding unveiled the $31 million donation or commercial transaction between the Dutch oil trading company and the PNP.