Pakistan ranks 140th in Transparency International's Corruption Index 2022 . One Bloomberg report showed BB Energy. The proposed payment mechanism is the latest sign of the growing proximity of Venezuelas cash-strapped government to Russia as the United States tightens a financial noose around Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who it describes as a dictator. What's more, one of the Algerian state-owned energy firm's subsidiaries has found itself in the crosshairs of a Lebanese court. Then Paterson resigned, cancelling future parliamentary votes. Much of the Mossack Fonseca correspondence on those companies involves updates of company registries and boards of directors, payment of fees and requests for letters of financial status required to open bank accounts or sign contracts. Erni was most recently. A lawyer for Panamericana, Katiuska Peado Moreno, and a former commercial attach at the Cuban embassy in London, Alejandro Gutirrez Madrigal, are listed as the beneficiaries of shares in Miramar Investment Corporation Ltd. worth $50,000. The Lebanese National News Agency announced that the attorney-general of Mount Lebanon, Ghada Aoun, issued arrest warrants against 17 people working in the fuel sector because of import irregularities. It said it had purchased Venezuelan oil from Rosneft that was provided by PDVSA to the Russian company in repayment of past loans, so no money was flowing back to Maduros government. In the last seven years every Tory party treasurer has given at least 3 million and been offered a seat in the House of Lords. At parliament we will try to make sure that high level responsibility is also explored - including all the ministers who stayed silent over the years., Fuel import scandal shows why transparency matters. Its got through to him that there is a chance to inflict real blows on the Tories. The Web page of the Cuba-Lebanon Businessmens Council lists a Riad Bassatne as a member of its board of directors and describes him as president of BB Naft Trading and member of the board of directors of BB Energy., Wael Bassatne nevertheless insisted that there are no commercial or financial relations between BB Naft Trading S.A. and the BB Energy Group. He added that BB Nafts activities in Cuba included the sale of spare parts and agricultural machinery.. Shuja Malik of BBC Urdu visited a village where women have been hired to work in the milk centre. Stakeholders in renewable energy value chains include not only manufacturers, suppliers and users but also government agencies, financial institutions and private technology companies, as well as informal local networks. But campaigners say that questions will always be raised when MPs take second jobs. The PDVSA source said the agreement had received the consent of all three parties and was being executed. The report claims peerages appeared to be a reward to thank wealthy donors for funding the Tory party. Thats why the Tories manage to survive scandal after scandal. Panama Papers: Secret buyer seals deal for South Beach condo, U.S. investigated energy weapon, even aliens, but Havana Syndrome origin still unclear, Amid controversy, Biden administration shortens visit by Cuban Border Guard officials, Rubio questions planned visit by Cuban Border Guard delegation to Washington next week, Facebook takes down hundreds of fake accounts linked to the Cuban government targeting critics, A silent crisis: Miami experts discuss recent migration in South Florida at Herald townhall, Did a U.S. rapper make it rain money in Havana? Fresh scrutiny has been applied after it was revealed former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox was being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds advising the British Virgin Islands' government in a corruption investigation. Patersons lobbying interests extended to sausage company Lynns Country Foods who paid him 12,000 for just 24 hours of work each year. The similar logo and name are explained through an agreement between the two firms that gave ZR Energy DMCC the right to use the brand and credit facility of ZR Group Holding SAL. Security agencies have warned against gangs attempting to kidnap unaccompanied children. BB Naft did business with Cuba between 1992 and 2001, trading oil for sugar for $300 million, with credit facilities at low interest rate, Coronado wrote. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has asked at least two of its clients to make payments for Venezuelan oil via Russian state energy giant Rosneft, as it comes under pressure from U.S. sanctions, according to a PDVSA source and documents reviewed by Reuters. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and conditions and privacy policy. Records of a meeting in Dubai in March of 2011 reflect a decision to significantly reduce the capital of BB Naft, held by BB Energy Holdings NV., from $8 million to $1.050 million. MPs duly voted for it. The charges pressed at the end of the investigation consist of a foundation for a trial. The documents found in the Panama Papers are dated as far back as the early 1990s, when the Cuban economy crashed following the end of Moscows massive subsidies to the island. The Panama Papers also show that Labiofam S.A., the marketing branch of Grupo Empresarial Labiofam, a Cuban government company that produces vaccines, medicines and other products for the control of carriers of diseases, owns shares in BioAsia Ltd. That company was founded with an investment of 10 million euros from Vietnam, southern Asia and the United Kingdom and lists Mossack Fonseca as its registered agent. The Swiss lawyer did not respond to El Nuevo Herald requests for comments on this story. The internal PDVSA document reviewed by Reuters showed the Venezuelan state oil firm asked Reliance to pay for oil sales under the long-term contract via Rosneft Trading SA, the Geneva-based trading unit of the Russian oil giant. Instead of seeking to polish and rescue parliaments reputation, Labour and the unions should be campaigning for a complete clean out of corrupted MPs. Baha Bassatne remained the sole Sonatrach broker until Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour was appointed general manager of the company and imposed another intermediary. Teddy Rahmeh and his company, ZR Group SAL Holding, are not involved in importing fuel oil to Lebanon, the representative of ZR Group Holding SAL said, denouncing the charges as a political conspiracy. The CEEC was made up of local residents who are . It is assumed that companies will have more trust in documents certified in Switzerland than in Cuba.. He has also compared climate activists to radical Islam. Sonatrach has been involved in at least two major corruption cases in the past decade, both of which involved the payment of bribes to company employees and officials. It is worth noting here that Daraj previously investigated suspicious money transactions through Lebanese banks, for Nassim Ould Kaddour, the son of Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, based on Panama Papers (First National Bank and Socit gnrale de banque au Liban). BB Energy places emphasis on environmental protection as well as health and safety, particularly regarding oil-related storage activities. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 3.1. Peter Quinter, an expert on U.S. embargo laws and former head of the International Law section of the Florida Bar Association, said the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba generally bars a company with a U.S. presence from doing business with Cuba directly or indirectly through an offshore branch, for example. Lebanese judicial sources told Daraj that the investigation will not be limited to the technical specifications of fuel, but will also include the commissions Sonatrach is making. Reliance said in its statement its purchases of Venezuelan oil from Rosneft do not lead to any payments to PDVSA. Hes right, but the cruelty is the treatment of ordinary people and the contempt politicians have for the rest of us. In particular, the expensive refurbishment of the Downing Street flat. October 19, 2018, 15:03 IST DUBAI: Trading company BB Energy has raised a $245 million revolving credit facility to refinance existing credit and for general corporate purposes, it said on Thursday. Its ownership was in the form of anonymous bearer shares the owners are whoever has those shares. BB Energy registered a company in Texas, BB Energy USA LLC., in 2014. BB Energy is not known to be involved in fracking but says that it sells oil around the world - and is one of the largest traders in the Mediterranean. Procs du fuel dfectueux : 22 personnes sur le banc des accuss. A scandal over the import of sub-standard quality fuel into Lebanon has seen some two-dozen people arrested, two fuel tankers seized and the offices of two major fuel traders raided and sealed off amid ongoing investigations. PDVSAs contemplated payment agreement with Rosneft is part of a series of methods used by Maduros government to gain access to cash, including selling Central Bank gold reserves. MPs are elected to provide a voice for their constituents in Westminster, but when they also have lucrative side-jobs for private companies it raises questions over whose interests they are really serving, said Alex Runswick, senior advocacy manager at Transparency International UK. Multimillionaire donors seem almost guaranteed a peerage, according to a report by the Open Democracy thinktank and the Times newspaper. The family controls BB Energy, a conglomerate founded in Lebanon in 1937 that buys and sells 16 million metric tons of crude and derivatives each year. Public debt could rise to 289% of GDP by the end of the century if climate change is left unchecked, it said. The subsidiary subcontracted the deal to two private companies BB Energy, owned by the Bassatne family, and, beginning in 2017, Dubai-based ZR Energy DMCC, owned by Ibrahim Zaouk. The need for transparency in that case is even more pressing given the fact that the director of the Oil Installations, Sarkis Hleiss, is at the center of investigations into the fuel import scandal. Riad Bassatne and his son Wael remained owners of the remaining shares. However, the criminal court announced his innocence to the Algeria Judicial Council, which was concerned with the ongoing investigations in the second Sonatrach case. Word in the news: black rain Children love it, businesses hate it Pody Lui from BBC Hong Kong explains the rain warning system, and why black rain warnings are taken so seriously. The justification of the Sonatrach executives for adopting this type of contract (Fronting), which is renewed every three years, was the position of the intermediary in the Lebanese market, in addition to his taking all the risks related to the deals. Ltd., BB Energy (Gulf) DMCC and BB Holding S.A.L. Hayes declined to comment. The long list of companies linked to the Cuban government or active in Cuba also includes Sanford Management Financial Ltd.; Commercial Mercadu S.A. (linked to Panamericana); Amadis Compaa Naviera S.A.; Seagull and Seafoods, S.A.; Mavis Group S.A.; Octagon Industria Ltd; Travelnet; and Venus Associates Inc., among others. Several shipments over at least the past three years were found to be non-compliant with quality standards. That the committee review and comment on proposed and ongoing work to reduce fuel poverty. With challenges consistently facing the energy industry, we are constantly evolving, using advanced systems, procedures and processes to provide the best answers for our clients. The managing team of Sonatrach, at that time, instructed Sonatrach Petroleum Corporation (London branch) to carry out the deal.The deal that was negotiated then created the branch of Sonatrach in London, a front for a Lebanese trader named Baha Bassatne, whose company (BB Energy) had been receiving a lions share of the profit margin obtained from these triangular business processes. Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of exports from the OPEC nation and the lions share of government revenues. As ordinary people lost their jobs and relied on furlough, many MPs increased their income from the start of the pandemic. The Venezuelan companys shipping schedules showed that Reliance was loading a cargo from PDVSA as recently as April 20. A former Tory Party chairman told The Sunday Times, Once you pay your 3 million, you get your peerage.. The Liberal Democrats have ennobled five donors and the Labour Party, two. Starting in the early 1990s, Cubas Ministry of Foreign Trade, through the Compaa Panamericana S.A, used Mossack Fonseca to create a string of disguised companies in Panama, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands that bought and sold medicines, cigars and food. The Panama Papers show Dupont-Willemin as a director of a total of 49 offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, five in Panama and two each in the Bahamas and Seychelles islands. Glencore has installed independent legal monitors to oversee its internal conduct as part of an agreement with the US government, marking a key milestone in the Swiss-based commodities house's . Private landlords and housing associations may apply for a grant on behalf of tenants who meet the eligibility criteria. The branch he was managing, which was a subject for the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance, was dissolved. To enjoy unlimited access to all LOrient Today content, subscribe. Which groups shape the stories we see in the press; which voices are silenced, and why? Read about our approach to external linking. Founded in Lebanon, BB Energy is one of the worlds leading independent energy trading companies, trading more than 33 million metric tonnes of oil every year. Overview of anti-corruption in the renewable energy sector The renewable energy sector is a rapidly growing market that is crucial to increasing access to energy and supporting climate change mitigation. The low-quality fuel in question was brought to Lebanon in March, under a secret contract signed with Algerian state company Sonatrach in 2005. Tens of thousands of teachers take action, Some workers defied a government strike ban, Teachers report more picket lines than last time, This article is over 1 years, 3 months old, Its not just the bodies that Boris Johnson let pile highits the cash too, reports Sam Ord. BBC Arabic's Moe Chreif tells us about the biggest corruption investigation in the history of Lebanons energy sector, which resulted in allegations involving multi-million dollar agreements, bribery, and shipments of substandard oil. Their statement mentioned that it was all about a dispute with their client in Lebanon, the Ministry of Energy and Water, around a defect in a shipment that was directed to a company under its supervision, which is EDL, a Lebanese power company. The statement added that the London branch is trying to sort out the problem with the client through continuous discussion, and that it will soon be solved, as the relationship between Sonatrach and the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water is excellent. It is noteworthy that Mr. Fawal is not authorized to sign the companys contracts, and he assured the Lebanese judiciary that he is merely a representative of Sonatrach in the negotiation processes, and not in concluding contracts. Thats the case of Racuza S.A., incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. All of which can give our clients a competitive edge. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnsons former senior adviser, says that the attempt to discredit the system that found then MP Owen Paterson guilty was really about the PM and his own lies. Steve Goodrich, research manager at Transparency International, said the number of MPs who accepted visits to Azerbaijan - a petrostate with a big corruption and human rights problem - was. Our role was to advise the council on how to reduce carbon emissions and make space for nature across the borough. One lawyer for BB Naft, Noureddine Kabalan, asked Mossack Fonseca in April of 2008 to create a power of attorney so that the empowered person can be authorized to sign on behalf of the company in Syria and Iraq for specific transactions.. A zero tolerance approach to any deviance from such requirement is adopted throughout the group. They escaped after senior adviser Dominic Cummings showed there was one law for the rich and another for the rest. On top of Patersons 81,932 salary, he took home 8,333 a month to lobby on behalf ofhealthcare company Randox Laboratories. But Cuba kept its links with some of the firms until very recently. Listed as a director of one of the companies is a brother of Gen. Luis Alberto Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja husband of Cuban ruler Raul Castros daughter and powerful head of the Cuban armed forces business conglomerate, GAESA. Whatever youre interested in, theres a free openDemocracy newsletter for you. In 1963 they entered the oil sector in Lebanon and were primarily involved in local marketing of oil products and importation of Bitumen. Rosneft, which has heavily invested in Venezuela under President Vladimir Putin, did not respond to a request for a comment before Reuters published its story on Thursday. All the other commercial activities were not affected by any sanctions because these regulations do not exist as such, he wrote in an email, adding that Mexico, Canada and the European Union have laws prohibiting their citizens and companies from obeying U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Yours faithfully, Kalim Rahman. There is no overlap of ownership or management between the two companies, a representative of ZR Energy DMCC told Le Commerce du Levant. This is why parliament cannot be relied on for fundamental climate action. The Public Prosecution in Mount Lebanon has triggered a heavy-caliber scandal, by arresting two dealers who were supposed to supply the Lebanese Electricity Company with Algerian fuel used in generating electricity. Offer sent. According to the Dubai commercial register, ZR Energy DMCC is fully owned by Zaouk. This is an actual Pandoras box that goes far beyond the chapter currently in the hands of the judiciary, he said. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. The Russian oil scheme appears to have been affected by the agreement between Cuba and Venezuela to exchange oil for medical services, and BB Naft expanded its work in Cuba in 2007 to include the sale of spare parts and batteries for autos and trucks, work boots, farm machinery, hardware for USD 5.3 million.. That the energy industry carries heightened corruption risks is well documented: when the OECD analysed 427 anti-bribery enforcement actions in 2014, they found that almost one in five related to the extractive industries. Lebanese judicial sources told Daraj that the investigation will not be limited to the technical specifications of fuel, but will also include the commissions Sonatrach is making. Stormy days are ahead for Algeria's state-owned oil company Sonatrach, currently rocked by two alleged corruption cases. BB Energy, a leading global independent energy trading company, is pleased to announce that it has successfully refinanced and expanded a$580 millionsenior secured borrowing base credit facility (the Facility). Sonatrach has been involved in at least two major corruption cases in the past decade, both of which involved the payment of bribes to company employees and officials. Somebody did and bedlam ensued. Randox later received a 347 million contract. Panamericanas former director, Jos L. Fernndez de Cosso Domnguez, is listed in the leaked documents as a director of Miramar Investment Corporation Ltd, Euro Foods Ltd, Racuza S.A, Caribbean Sugar Trader, Mercaria Trading S.A. and Sabradell S.A. Fernndez more recently served as Cubas ambassador to Japan and economic attach at the embassy in Paris. At times, however, the shield of anonymity over Cuban companies is not very effective. We fully anticipate that the final charge will also be dismissed, he said. 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