Former SporTT director Imran Jan has questioned the findings of an audit by PriceWaterhouseCoopers into the operations of the State company which pointed to possible collusion, conflict of interest and leaking of confidential information.
Accompanied by attorney Gerald Ramdeen, the former director who spent two years at the organisation challenged several findings of the report. He also instructed Ramdeen to write to PWC “to clarify the position with respect to this matter (and) the contents of what has been reported in the public domain.”
An investigation from the auditors pointed to alleged collusion between the former SporTT Company director and the current T&T Cricket Board president, Azim Bassarath. The report said he attempted to influence the provision of SportTT funding to the TTCB.
Jan was also under scrutiny for sharing confidential documents with Bassarath which stated how much was paid by SporTT to the TTCB and spending over his approved limit.
The investigation also uncovered audio files, which the other parties were not aware were being recorded.
In response, Jan said he could not have exceeded his spending approval limit as the PWC report stated as there is no limit for directors. Instead, Jan stated, “At no point, we have limits because I’m not a signatory. I was not a signatory on a cheque, I can’t pay the TTCB any money. What we do is approve…based on salaries, based on expenses that each National Governing Bodies (NGB) will incur.”
When Guardian Media contacted former Chairman of the Finance Committee Phillip Whiteman to confirm whether directors have an approval limit or not, Whiteman said he could not comment on the matter.
Jan also trivialised the report’s findings which stated he shared confidential SporTT documents.
“At that same time, I would have been in communication with nine out of 10 sporting bodies, and that is not something new. If you speak to previous directors, previous chairpersons of the SporTT company board, people will contact you at various times,” Jan said.
He went further in stating, “I was the only national sporting individual on that board, so I knew the chairpersons of various NGBs, various secretaries of various sporting bodies, so they will ask me what is the status of our finances, so that is nothing new.”
Chief Executive Officer of the SporTT Company Jason Williams said he had no comment on the matter when asked about Jan’s statements.
The former director also said he had to record the meetings “to protect myself”.
Jan’s company issued phone was found to have contained more than 3,000 audio recordings, but the phone was wiped upon return. PWC stated that before Jan’s directorship being terminated, the IT Manager made a backup of his company phone and it was subsequently restored to another mobile device.
For the third straight day, SporTT Company chairman Douglas Camacho did not answer his phone when Guardian Media called.
Former chairman Dinanath Ramnarine would only say, “I am not aware of what Mr Jan has said and until I am fully aware, if and when it deserves a response, I will.”