Kamal for checking blacklisting allegations against Vitol Asia

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the energy ministry would be asked to check if Vitol Asia Pte, Singapore is blacklisted in any country.

He made the remarks at the virtual meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase on Wednesday.

“The energy ministry will be asked to check the allegations of blacklisting against the company,” said the minister in response to a question.

The cabinet committee approved two proposals of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division for procuring 67.20 lakh per million British Thermal Unit (BTU) LNG from the Vitol Asia Pte Limited, a subsidiary of UK’s Vitol group.

Petrobangla has been entrusted with the LNG import from the company at a cost of over Tk623 crore. Per unit MMBTU of LNG will cost around $9.

In December last year, Vitol’s US subsidiary entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the US government over two counts of alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Brazilian police have for years been investigating the wide-ranging “Car Wash” scandal involving the use of bribes to win contracts involving state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), according to Reuters.

In 2012, Sri Lanka blacklisted Vito Asia Pte for supplying inferior oil, Reuters reported.

The finance minister said, “The Vitol Asia Pte is not blacklisted in Bangladesh. They are doing business in different countries but they have not done business in our country yet.”

“I don’t know if they are blacklisted in other countries. But if they are blacklisted, why I should take it from them,” he said.

“We’ll inform the concerned ministry about the matter. They will look into it. I’ll try to inform you about the matter in the next meeting,” he added.