The Oilfield Workers' Trade Union president general Ancel Roget burned photos of the Prime Minister, Energy Minister Stuart Young and Indian businessman Naveen Jindal outside the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery on Friday as it sought to reaffirm its belief that the bidding process to buy the plant was flawed and riddled with government bias.

Singing and dancing to his calypso The Truth, Roget, with other members of the OWTU, lit a fire in a barrel after a press conference at the roundabout outside the refinery and burned the photos. Onlooking members of the union urged: "Burn them!" In a WhatsApp response to Newsday, Young said: "That type of behaviour is unfortunately a reflection on the individual carrying it out. Whilst I am an advocate for freedom of expression it should always be reasonable, responsible and ideally respectful. I am never deterred from carrying out my duties to the citizens of TT by those who have self-serving agendas and narrow narratives."

At the press conference, Roget again slammed Dr Keith Rowley's June meeting with the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd chairman. The company is one of nine currently bidding for the former Petrotrin refinery, along with the union's Patriotic Energies and Technologies Ltd. Roget accused the government of showing that Jindal is its preferred bidding partner, and will be given control over the refinery despite the ongoing process. "This is a Petrotringate, a 'refinerygate' that is going down before us now and so they are attempting to set aside all of those who are engaged in a...bidding process right now, say to the country they did not qualify and then engage their preferred partner." Roget also slammed Dr Rowley and the government's entertaining Jindal, given the billionaire's ongoing legal battles in India over allegations of corruption dubbed "Coalgate.""These charges have not been cleared."We don't mind where they come from, you know. Whether these people come from Ghana or Uganda or whether they come from Nigeria...or India – if you are before the court for criminal charges and criminal conspiracy and bribery and all of those things which have already been made public, you have no right being in the Diplomatic Centre of our country." Trying to strengthen Patriotic's bid for the refinery, Roget said the company is the most suited to run it. He said the union and workers, once employed by Petrotrin, could have certain plants within the refinery restarted and begin producing fuel for the local market within nine months. "We were the preferred bidders against some 76 other international contenders in 2019, and that did not happen by guess. We again satisfied all of the requirements. We are the ones with the workers who know best how to, in the most safest and reliable way, start that refinery and produce for TT."This would be Patriotic's third attempt at acquiring the refinery, having failed to do so in 2019 and 2021, as the government rejected its offers.Speaking at the PNM's sports day on June 23, Rowley said a committee had been set up to evaluate bids for the r