Manning: It was a private jet Repsol: It was a commercial flight

The confusion arising out of Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s decision to accept an offer by Spanish energy giant, Repsol, to provide him with a private jet to go from Madrid to London deepened yesterday as conflicting statements continued to emerge from Manning and Repsol over whether the PM got a free ride or not. Last Thursday Manning revealed that Repsol and British Gas provided private jets so that he could keep  engagements in London and Madrid during his overseas tour last month. But Repsol representative, Pedro Vaticon, in an interview stated that the company did not charter a private plane for Manning and that the Prime Minister flew to London on a commerical flight.

Responding to these statements, Manning, speaking at his regular post-Cabinet news conference yesterday, said his original statement was correct. He said the “very innocent error” was made by the Repsol Trinidad office, but he didn’t wish to go into any further detail. He said “somebody” from his office spoke with Repsol on the matter.  “Repsol ensured that I got to my appointment in London on time, by private aircraft,” he stated, asking rhetorically: “Why would I want to say that I travelled by a private aircraft, when in fact I travelled by a commerical aircraft?” He said Government welcomed the fact that Repsol was, for the first time, holding a board meeting in Trinidad and Tobago and the chairman of the company was coming for this. “They have singled out Trinidad and Tobago as one of the shining spots on the globe,” the Prime Minister stated, when asked why he thought the company was holding such board meeting in this country.

Repsol owns a 30 percent share in bpTT. But Manning was not prepared to address questions on whether he erred in accepting the offer of a sponsored flight. He said the matter was aired fully one week ago and he would not attempt to add anything now. “It is not for me to judge. I cannot be judge and jury in my own cause,” he said. Asked whether his action compromised the Government in dealing with the bidding process for two blocks in which Repsol has expressed an interest, Manning said there were clearly established criteria on which bids were assessed “and it does not include private jets or no private jets.”