Almost two years after it was discovered that the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board misallocated almost $3 million in funding from the NGC, and six months after the NGC requested the TTCB to repay that money forthwith, the two bodies are still working on a way forward.
"The NGC is still in active discussions with the TTCB as a follow up to the audit to determine a way forward." said NGC communications manager; Lisa Burkett.
The original audit, which was completed in March 2017 for the period 2014 to 2016, showed that $2,983,000 was spent without approval by the NGC and not in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
When that audit came into the public domain in July last year, it brought the TTCB into serious disrepute even though the NGC never pronounced on the matter except to confirm the authenticity of the document.
But today, just one day before the TTCB's election in which president Azim Bassarath is seeking a fourth term and which he is expected to contest unopposed, there are now questions about whether the incumbent TTCB president lied to his executive about the status of the matter during a meeting of the board in July last year.
According to strongly worded a letter from the NGC’s president Mark Loquan to the TTCB dated July 13th 2018, the NGC requested: “The sum of TT$2,983,552.99 not spent in accordance with the clear provisions of the MOU will be allocated in the manner and categories stipulated in the MOU and that this will be done forthwith by the TTCB and from its own funds.."
Bassarath apparently wrote back to the NGC on July 23rd acknowledging receipt of the "correspondence" and requesting a meeting with them along with officials from the Ministry of Sport and Sport Company.
However minutes from a TTCB executive meeting on July 28th 2018, at the height of the fallout over the matter, showed that Bassarath assured board members that the MOU allowed the TTCB to reallocate the funds, and that the board received no letter of dispute from NGC. Bassarath also told members that the NGC Had not sent any official document to the TTCB.
In fact, in Loquan’s letter to the TTCB, the NGC president further stated that additional documents provided by the TTCB after the audit did not change the findings. In fact, he said it has sought to further confirm the findings of the audit report."
When Guardian Media Limited reached out to Bassarath yesterday for comment on the issue, he did not answer our calls nor respond to our text messages.