The Tribune

A partner in the Grand Bahama refinery project vowed last night he would not support the project going ahead without it passing stringent environmental tests.

But at the same time as the head of Dutch firm TECS made this promise new issues surfaced which once again add to the storm surrounding the $5.5bn project led by Oban Energies.

On Tuesday this week Oban’s president Satpal Dhunna placed full page adverts in the The Tribune and The Guardian to try and reassure the public all was well with the planned refinery.

In the advert he wrote: “For your engineer you get powerhouses like TECS...”

TECS is in fact a start-up company established in Holland in September last year.

It’s CEO is Gert van Meijeren who has a life-time’s experience in the tank terminal industry.

In fact Mr van Meijeren was previously head of another company called CTS Middle East which fell foul of the US authorities for breaking its trade embargo with Iran for which the company was fined $48,000.

In court documents obtained by The Tribune Mr van Meijeren signed on behalf of CTS admitting their guilt in a case heard in the US District Court in Houston in September 2013.

The court was told agents of US Homeland Security had been tipped off that CTS had placed an order for $539,000 worth of US-made engineering equipment to be shipped from Houston to its base in Bahrain without informing the US suppliers that the final destination for the order was actually Iran.

“Gert van Meijeren was determined to be the Managing Director of CTS,” the court heard.

“... On June 10, 2008 Agents met with Meijeren in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel (in) Houston. Meijeren stated that he was aware that the CTS office in Bahrain had placed an order ... for materials that were destined for Iran.

“Meijeren stated that he knew that it was illegal for United States companies to do business with Iran, and to attempt to export items from the United States companies and to attempt to export items from the United States to Iran. He also stated that BBB (the suppliers) had not been advised that the shipment was destined for Iran in order to protect BBB from legal liabilities.

“Meijeren stated that he understood that his corporations were in violation of United States law and he would adjust his corporation’s practices to bring them into compliance.”

In a plea agreement Meijeren admitted CTS’ guilt for which the company was fined $48,000.

The Tribune spoke to Mr van Meijeren yesterday while he was on a business trip in Asia where he addressed the US conviction and his new company’s role in the Oban deal.

“I am fine with the scrutiny,” he said. “My history is in building a company which has an excellent reputation around the world.”

As regard breaking US law he said CTS had basically no option but to plead guilty or face being restricted from trading with the US.

“CTS Middle East was convicted, not me,” said Mr van Meijeren.

“What they did, they told us we were going to be blacklisted in the US.

“We had nowhere to go. That’s the way it works in this world. As a company we had no alternative but to work with them and we accepted the sentence in the court.”

He added it was difficult to accept how America can operate around the world, imposing it’s own laws in the international arena. CTS, he said, was a very successful company which he’d personally built up and now had an excellent reputation in the industry.

“As a person I still feel CTS and staff involved did not violate any applicable laws, as CTS was subject to European Union laws, Bahraini laws (for CTS Middle East) and laws in The Netherlands,” he said.

“However the US justice considers their legislation to have extraterritorial reach, and as a company we had no alternative than to plead guilty on the offences brought forward as any other approach would have had a very significant impact on our international market position.

“It should also be noted that the products involved as exported to Iran were merely systems to reduce tank storage VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions, and in no way did involve arms related transactions or nuclear industry materials. None of the materials exported were included in the European Union list of sanctioned materials or technologies, as prohibited from being exported to Iran by a company with registered offices in the European Union.

Turning to the Grand Bahama project Mr van Meijeren conceded this week’s advert placed by Oban had oversold the stature of his company.

“Powerhouse is probably not a correct reflection of our company’s stature,” he said.

“It is correct that TECS is a new company but we are an experienced enterprise with people who have worked in this industry for three decades.”

“The companies we have teamed up with are are among the best and biggest in the world.”

Unfortunately he was unable to say who any of these companies are, saying he would need Oban’s permission to do so.

Regarding the Heads of Agreement signed with Oban, Mr van Meijeren said no-one should be troubled that this took place before an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) being carried out.

“This is extremely common within our industry,” he said.

“It is just a pity that people are raising a lot of concerns, but we are not addressing the real concerns which are environmental impact and safety.

“Rest assured that as TECS we will not support a project without a credible and completed EIA and a credible and completed Environmental Management Plan. Completing these studies on an adequate and transparent basis is a responsibility of the applicant and supporting companies, and is not a government responsibility.

“The wording in the Heads of Agreement about the Bahamian government working with Oban in remediating any concerns raised are understood from us as an obligation of the government to be clear, precise and complete objections raised preventing the successful completion of an EIA or EMP.”

Mr van Meijeren concluded: “The Bahamian audience has every right to raise concerns but they can rest assured we are against anything that negatively impacts the environment or safety and I will not compromise on that.”

• In its advertisement this week Oban’s president Satpal Dhunna also referred to the project drawing on architects of the calibre of Philip Stark. The Tribune presumes he was referring to internationally-renowned designer Philippe Starck.

Additional reporting: Richard Coulson