I'm not interested in fighting...I wish Govt well
■ Anthony Wilson
BUSINESSMAN Wilfred Espinet said he harbours no bitterness towards the Government, which yesterday dismissed him from the high-profile positions of chairman of State-owned Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL) and its subsidiaries, Heritage Petroleum and Paria Fuel Trading.
'I am not interested in fighting the Government. I wish them well as I, like all other citizens of this country, have a vested interest in a positive outcome for the State's oil company.
'I hope that whatever choices they make are done for the right reasons so that the country is the beneficiary,' Espinet said in an interview at his Port of Spain home, hours after new boards were announced for the successor companies of Petrotrin. Espinet said in total, four directors were removed from TPHL and its subsidiaries: CLICO executive chairman Claire Gomez-Miller; Linda Rajpaul, executive director of the Unit Trust Corporation; Nigel Edwards and himself.
Espinet maintained throughout the interview that the dismissal was not about him, as he considered himself 'irrelevant' in the scheme of things.
But referring to the boards he chaired, he added: 'We were doing what we considered to be in the best interest of the companies and, by extension, the country. If the shareholder representatives have chosen to take the group of companies down a different path, that is their right.
'In my personal judgment, I don't understand the rationale for changing board members and the CEO.
'All of the performance indicators have shown that we were meeting the targets set. My one concern is that the companies do not revert to the practices that got them into trouble in the past,' he said.
Espinet's reference to past practices pointed to the over-staffing, low productivity and project implementation failures of Petrotrin and its Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, which was closed down at the end of November last year.
Unanimous decision Espinet said central to his dismissal was a decision taken by the board of Heritage to retain Mike Wylie as the company's chief executive, while putting in place an executive leadership team to provide additional managerial support for Wylie, who is undergoing treatment in the US after undergoing cancer surgery.
The team comprised head of implementation Lisa Ali; land leader Derek Lall; mid-stream leader Kerry Rampersad; chief financial officer Nigel Campbell; and offshore central leader Richard Burgess.
The announcement of the decision to retain Wylie and put an executive support team in place was made on Wednesday in a news release from Heritage.
The decision to retain Wylie and provide managerial support for him was taken at a board meeting on August 13.
That decision, like all decisions of the boards since it was constituted in September 2017, was unanimous, said Espinet, adding the decision was based on the board's judgment on the best way to manage the challenges that arose at Heritage as a result of Wylie's illness and his absence from Trinidad.
Espinet said he wrote a letter communicating the unanimous board decision to retain Wylie as the Heritage CEO with leadership support on the same day of the board meeting-August 13.
That letter was e-mailed to three ministers-Energy Minister Franklin Khan, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young and Finance Minister Colm Imbert, who is also corporation sole in whom all State company shares are vested.
Responsibility and best interest On the evening of August 13, one of the three ministers responded to Espinet's letter expressing disagreement with the decision of the Heritage board to retain Wylie. There was an exchange of e-mails between Espinet and the minister, with neither side changing their position.
Asked why the previous Heritage board went ahead with the retention of Wylie knowing it was a position that was disagreeable to a senior Cabinet minister, Espinet said: 'We went ahead and announced the decision to retain Mike Wylie on Wednesday because the board has the responsibility to do what it considers to be in the best interest of the company.'
The former Heritage chairman declined to comment on the possibility that Wylie may bring an action of constructive dismissal against the Government.
Wylie was appointed as CEO of Petrotrin's exploration and production division, which became Heritage, in August 2018. He had a three-year contract that paid him US$425,000 a year plus housing, transportation and healthcare benefits.
'WORKED IN BEST INTEREST OF COMPANY': Wilfred Espinet
TO CHAIR 2 BOARDS: Newman George
TO CHAIR 3 BOARDS: Michael Quamina
