Police Commissioner, Gary Griffith, has revealed that the investigation into the infamous ‘fake oil’ scandal, involving the now-defunct state oil giant Petrotrin and A&V Oil and Gas is still ongoing.
He made the revelation during a press conference hosted by the TTPS on Monday.
Griffith’s announcement of an ongoing police investigation comes mere days after A&V Oil won its matter against Petrotrin.
Three arbitrators ruled that Petrotrin failed to prove that the company engaged in any inappropriate practices and was entitled to be paid for their services.
A&V is now entitled to a payment of $84 million, which was previously held in escrow.
Griffith said, “That situation between Petrotrin and AV has nothing to do with the police investigations, the decision made in the arbitration has nothing to do with the investigation.”
He said “We are looking for an independent reservoir engineering expert that is going to assist us to ascertain certain things and also a forensic investigation will take place and this is to validate the legitimacy of crude quantities,” Griffith said.
He said the TTPS’ legal department is doing letters of engagement to retain the services of those experts.
Griffith added that “After the contracting of these experts, we will be able to complete our investigation with the findings to ascertain where we go from here.
A&V provided crude oil to Petrotrin up until 2017 when Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar alleged the company was defrauding Petrotrin by inflating its oil production figures.
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