This was requested after the General Manager Mr Yero Jallow of Gam-Petroleum told the committee that the shareholders in the petroleum agreement were: GPA, SSHFC, Finance Ministry, and GNPC owning a significant combined share of 75%. The other 25 percent of the shares is owned by Star Oil Group. “The shareholders are all institutional shareholders.”
He was requested by the committee to provide the documentation as to how the 25 percent share of the Star Oil Group Oil evolved. According to Mr. Jallow, when he was previously asked to explain that evolution, he told the committee that he assumed office at a time when the said percentage was held by the Star Oil Group.
He said for him to explain this, it would require him to go through the records and provide the needed information.
However, Mr Jallow said that his company had a deposit agreement with Apogee to store their products at the depot as they would do for any trader with the right products.
He added that the original arrangement was for them to supply product to somebody who needed it but that original sales deal collapsed when they were already here. “So they had to look for alternatives, which are normal in oil and gas business, and so they looked for a terminal to store the product and that is when they came to us and they came at a time when we also needed the product,” Mr Jallow said.
According to Mr Jallow, Gam Petroleum does not have the resources to investigate every trader they deal with. “That is why we don’t care too much because we are only holding their property and only control the product after the agreement,” he added.
“The trader is trading the goods. They don’t need to establish themselves in a country before they come in. So why would we need to look into the credibility? What concerns us is the product, and whether it is good or not,” he said.
Asked to give names of persons who acted as facilitators for Apogee during the sale of the products, Mr Jallow said the company has its own facilitators, citing Aurimas Steblys who acted as Apogee’s commercial director and one Nana who represented Ultimate Beige Logistics, a Ghanaian company registered in The Gambia.
