Ex-TTCB treasurer Kiswah Chaitoo appeal hearing set for end of April

KISWAH Chaitoo’s appeal against his February 28 removal as Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) treasurer will be heard by the Supreme Appellate Committee on either April 29 or 30.

This was confirmed by Chaitoo’s attorney Dinesh Rambally on Wednesday as the committee met with his legal team and those of the TTCB, at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva.

Representing the board were attorneys Navindra Ramnanan and Henry Chase. The meeting was held to treat with the hearing of the appeal. The committee asked both parties, Chaitoo and the TTCB, to have some discussions with a view to agreeing on what documents should be utilised in the appeal.

“The parties held discussions and made submissions accordingly,” Rambally said. “The committee then instructed that the appellant (Chaitoo) file his written submissions (to the committee) no later than April 9.

“The respondent (TTCB) has until April 22 to respond, and then the appellant will then reply to those submissions, if needed, by April 25. He also has a right to reply.”

Chaitoo’s appeal comes after a culmination of events which began in December 2023, where he revealed to the TTCB at an executive meeting, findings of a misuse of approximately $500,000, over a five-year period.

A TTCB employee has since resigned. Chaitoo also reported the matter to police.

After he made the report, the TTCB executive held another meeting on January 10, where a motion of no confidence was moved against Chaitoo. Nine of the 11 members voted for the motion, one voted against and the other abstained.

That meeting prompted the February 28 special general meeting, where 35 members voted in favour of his removal and 12 against it; surpassing the two-thirds requirement to have him removed.

In a February 29 Newsday interview with Chaitoo, he said he was being “penalised for doing the right thing.”

On March 4, Chaitoo’s attorneys Rambally and Stefan Ramkissoon appealed the board’s process to move the vote of no confidence against him and deemed it illegal.

They sent a 14-page notice of appeal to the board’s Supreme Appellant Committee on March 4.

It said the motion for the vote of no confidence was “misconceived, baseless, (and) constitutes an abuse” by the movers.

A March 7 TTCB statement, however, defended the board’s process and said the vote of no confidence was “successfully carried because of his (Chaitoo) role in leaking the TTCB’s internal affairs into the public domain, without the necessary approval.”

Chaitoo was also accused of procuring TTCB documents and keeping them in his possession without authorisation, going to the police without board approval, making untrue statements to the media at an AGM and refusing to meet the executive to discuss its concerns.

In his defence of the police report, Chaitoo reminded board members in his appeal that “as a professional accountant who is guided and who operates within the Institute of the Chartered Account Code of Ethics, I am bounded by the integrity code.”

Additionally, it was understood at Wednesday’s meeting, that Chaitoo will soon publicly address the claims made against him in TTCB’s March 7 statement. Chaitoo opted to let the meeting be held first before issuing a response to the board’s claims. He plans to issue his response publicly.