President Raúl Castro’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign is boosting business for one Guadeloupe based consultant who’s been advising French and Caribbean-area companies since 2007 on the “dos and don’ts” of conducting business in Cuba.

Last year, Jean-Michel Aublet raised the profile of his company, Carrera Consulting, which helped structure a three-way deal to refurbish an aging oil refinery in Cienfuegos.
As noted by Reuters, that $6 billion deal  involves the Cuban-Venezuelan entity Cuven-petrol, China Huanqui Contracting and Engineering Corp. (a unit of the Chinese state oil firm CNPC), and the Italian subsidiary of French oil engineering firm Technip SA.

It aims to boost the Soviet-built refinery’s capacity from 65,000 to 150,000 barrels a day.

“Thanks to the actions of Carrera Consulting, Technip signed an agreement with Cuba in the petroleum sector,” said Aublet, explaining that Technip will do design and engineering work, and take part in construction.

Aublet is well aware of Raúl’s anti-corruption drive but says he’s not overly concerned about it, since he insists that he steers his clients away from any conduct that could land them in hot water with Cuban authorities.

Instead, Aublet focuses on compliance with U.S. embargo laws but doesn’t say why. One explanation: he could be conducting due diligence for his clients because of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act and with good reason.

Some years ago, Miami lawyer Nicolás Gutiérrez sued an affiliate of French engineering giant Bouygues Travaux Publics for alleged violations of Title IV of Helms-Burton.

The lawsuit stemmed from construction work the company conducted for a resort in Cuba on land formerly owned by the Sánchez-Hill family. In 2007, Bouygues’ Cuba activities temporarily complicated its ultimately successful efforts to secure a $1 billion contract to build the Port of Miami Tunnel Project.

This is exactly the type of controversy Aublet wants to avoid for his clients, most of whom he refrained from disclosing.

French trade experts like Aublet may see more consulting work in the future, thanks to the French government’s warming attitude toward business with Cuba these days. The friendlier ties were reinforced with the December 2011 visit of French State Secretary of Foreign Trade Pierre Lellouche to Havana.

During that visit, Lellouche said French ex-ports to Cuba in 2011 came to only €121 million, less than half the €256 million in exports reported in 2000. One obstacle to stronger bilateral trade was Cuba’s 2009 cash crunch, which prevented French investors from transferring nearly €60 million out of the country.

Details: Jean-Michel Aublet, Carrera Consult-ing, Guadeloupe, F.W.I. Email: carreraconsulting@yahoo.fr. URL: www.carreraconsulting.fr.