The constitutional motion against the Petroleum Haulers Bill went to court today and attorney for the association Lois Young-Barrow dropped a bomb.
She presented affidavits from the Haulers themselves to show why the bill was needed to protect the local truck operators from the multinational oil companies, which are characterized as acquisitive and downright "chancey". One of the Haulers, Edward Gongora of five star hauling says in his affidavit that in the 90's Shell actually demanded a kickback, of 1 cent on every gallon of gas delivered, and later increased that figure by 7 cents. And, Gongora claims that those Haulers who didn't play the kickback game were warned that the oil company would find another Hauler who would. In its defense, shell claims that it was a rebate, not a kickback.
Whatever the case, the court is now compelled to ask the oil companies to respond to the claims made in the affidavits and they are expected to do so by next week Tuesday when the case resumes.