Monjasa is the company that now monopolizes the supply of fuel for maritime activities in Panama, including that used by cruise ships, as the Carnival cruise line has denounced.
Monjasa, is part of a group of Danish origin, and has been singled out on several occasions in Panama for allegedly failing to comply with environmental regulations and other irregular practices. The company has offices in a luxurious business center in Costa del Este and enjoys very powerful political relations in Panama.
In mid-2022, Monjasa was involved in a controversy before the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), due to alleged regulatory breaches. But just a few months later, the company is being selected by AMP itself as the sole supplier of fuel for large vessels such as cruise ships.
The Carnival cruise line’s complaint has been made known through a press release in foreign media, while most of the media in Panama have remained silent on the issue.
According to FOCO, Carnival Cruises sent a note of protest against the imposition of the AMP and the Colón 2000 port, to buy fuel only from the Monjasa company, “whose dignitary is Pablo Torres, cousin of congressman Ricardo Torres, member of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). Torres is also the owner of Stward Company, a company that maintains several contracts and concessions with the AMP”.
“A letter from the administration of the port of Colón 2000, owned by Alfonso Steven Tarazi, informed the shipping companies that they will only be able to use the Monjasa company, owned by the cousin of congressman Ricardo Torres, to supply themselves with fuel,” FOCO said.
What is Monjasa?
Monjasa is a transnational company in the oil and maritime transport industries. Its core business includes the resale and physical supply of marine fuels, such as bunkering and ship ownership activities globally.
Monjasa was founded in Denmark in 2002. The company claims to currently employ more than 500 merchants and other maritime specialists. It claims that its total revenue reached USD 3.2 billion in 2021, which is equivalent to 5.7 million tons of petroleum products supplied.
The company has offices in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Monjasa provides services to shipping companies with a fleet of about 20 tankers.
On February 14, 2002 the company was registered in Denmark. Monjasa Trading Aps was founded by Jan Jacobsen and Anders Østergaard (its current CEO). Østergaard carries out part of its activities in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Angola.
Monjasa in Panama
The group’s Panamanian subsidiaries are MONJASA SA and MONJASA PTY . Legally the company is chaired by Anders Østergaard and other key people are:
- RASMUS RAVNHOLDT KNUDSEN, director
- RASMUS BONDE JACOBSEN, Managing Director of Monjasa for the Americas
- SVEND STENBERG MOLHOLT, director
- BORIS JAVIER AVILA MUÑOZ, subscriber and
- LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ, subscriber
But it is at this point that the matter begins to take on a strange nuance. Although the name of the Panamanian maritime transportation engineer, Pablo Enrique Torres Chong, cousin of congressman Ricardo Torres, does not appear as part of the company’s board of directors, it does appear in a document, along with those of Anders Østergaard and Svend Stenberg Mølholt , as FOCO has shown.
Pablo Torres Chong has even been mentioned in some press publications as a representative of Monjasa, a fact that the company later denied. This situation leaves some questions in the air, such as: Are there hidden agreements between Torres Chong and other Panamanian citizens and the owners of the transnational company? And if they exist, what is the scope of such agreements?
Pablo Enrique Torres Chong also appears as a director of the companies: DOLPHIN TUGS, INC., STWARD AGENCY, INC., HOTELES TJ, SA, INVERSIONES PG LUXURY, INC., AIR SENECA 880 SA, STWARD’S SHIPPING CORPORATION SA, HOTELES TJ, SA and PG LUXURY INVESTMENTS, INC.
In a video Pablo Torres Chong is seen declaring as director of operations of Stward Corporation.
But it does not seem to be the only relationship between Torres Chong and the Stward and Monjasa companies. The Panama Maritime Authority website indicates that the MONJASA STRIKER vessel is part of the STWARD OIL, SA team , one of the local fuel oil suppliers.
Alleged breach of regulations
In April 2022, the newspaper La Estrella de Panamá reported that the ship María del Carmen VI, an Ecuadorian-flagged fuel dispatch barge built in 1998, was in Panamanian waters for fuel dispatch and allegedly belonged to the Monjasa company. , according to the newspaper, a company linked to businessman Pablo Torres, according to sources from the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), located in the Republic of Panama.
The passage of the ship through waters under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) was included in the itinerary and it transited freely under the supervision of the authorities.
The lawyer Yersil Sánchez filed administrative complaints before the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) and the ACP. In addition, he requested an investigation of the companies involved: Decal, Chevron, Posta, Panama Port and the ACP itself, for the incursion of an oil barge-type vessel into Panamanian waters and coming from Ecuador, which allegedly failed to comply with the regulations regarding the navigation safety and pollution prevention, with the purpose that the government administrative entities act accordingly, investigating and clarifying the facts.