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With the Government's corruption probe still ungoing, two unknown American companies yesterday announced that they had acquired InnCOGEN, the controversial electricity generation plant in Point Lisas.

In separate statements issued yesterday afternoon, Power Management Company and MDU Resources announced that they had acquired 50.1 per cent and 49.9 per cent "membership" interests in Carib Power Management, the parent company of InnCOGEN.

The statement from MDU Resources said the financial details of the investment were not disclosed, but the investment was expected to add to MDU's earnings this year. MDU is a publicly listed company, while Power Management is privately held.

Both acquiring companies trumpeted the fact that InnCOGEN has 26 years remaining on its power purchase agreement with T&TEC.

InnCOGEN owns a 225 megawatt natural-gas fired electrical generation plant.

The plant was set up in 1999 while the opposition United National Congress was in office. InnCOGEN's former owner, York Research, went into bankruptcy two years later.

Government is investigating reports that a UNC member in New York, popularly known as "the short pants man," had been paid a $21 million "finder's fee" by InnCOGEN's former owners.

A Government source confirmed last night that the investigation now centres around whether part of that finder's fee found its way back into a secret offshore UK account of a UNC minister.

In a statement to Parliament in June last year, former Attorney General Glenda Morean said four cheques, valued US$130,000 in total – US$50,000, US$50,000, US$20,000 and US$10,000 – had been deposited into the Guernsey account of a former minister.