"The disbursement for the first tranche of $20,000,00 has already been effected, while the disbursement for the second tranche of $15,000,000 is not effected,” the minister explained. “Jah oil has fully repaid the first tranche with interest, and has deferred the second and third tranches back to the Ministry of Trade.
“They later invited interested private sector operations to express interest for assessment, and the bidding period has elapsed on the 6th of September. The Ministry of Trade is evaluating the bids submitted.”
Hon. Jawara, in his supplementary questions, asked the minister why Jah Oil returned the facility. In response, Minister Keita stated that he couldn’t speak for Jah Oil, but was at the Assembly to speak as a minister.
He elaborated: “When I brought this facility into this August Assembly, it was accompanied by the financing agreement, and no transaction about this facility is secret. This facility was transferred to the Ministry of Trade to work with the business committee.
But in the interest of transparency, the minister decided to state how Jah became the only supplier who fulfilled the conditions of the credit facility. “He [Jah] paid different fees amounting to ($867,905) eight hundred and sixty-seven thousand nine hundred and five dollars,” he said.
"These are the fees that were put forward for every eligible participant to pay. However, nobody came forward to pay this, except Jah Oil. That is why he was awarded the facility. There was no backdoor [process]; these are transparent fees that Jah Oil paid directly."
Minister Keita emphasised that on the first tranche, the interest cost associated with the first twenty million dollars was four hundred and sixteen thousand six hundred thirty-six dollars ($416,636), making the total amount paid by Jah Oil on this facility to be one million two hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred and forty-one dollars ($1, 284, 541 ). He stressed that “it is a financial transaction; there is no if or but”.
He said further: "This country has a history of facilities coming in and certain private sector operations are used and not paid and at the end of the day, government have to pay it.
“That should be history. We have extracted a corporate guarantee from Jah Oil. If Jah Oil had not paid this facility, we would have told the company to pay it back. We have all those legal agreements. So it was not behind the scenes, nepotism or favoritism.”
The minister stressed that there was nothing secret about the agreement with Jah Oil because they shared it will all the National Assembly members, and the media.
