NLRs – No comparison between TTCB and ministries

NATIONAL League Representatives (NLRs) said the TT Cricket Board's (TTCB) financial management procedures cannot be compared with the public service.

A financial audit by the NGC, has shown that 24 per cent of its funds to the local cricket body was not spent according to stipulation.

The audit showed that between 2014 and 2016, $2,983,000 was spent without approval by the TTCB and not in accordance with the memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The NLRs were responding to comments from TTCB executive member and former Sports Minister Manohar Ramsaran.

Ramsaran said government officials will best understand the process in which funds allocated for a specific purpose, if unspent after all expenses have been covered, can be legally reallocated to other areas within the framework agreed on.

“This is a common occurrence in ministries and local government bodies which does not constitute corruption or misbehaviour in public office. But some people has seen an opportunity to make mileage out of a situation to fulfil their own objectives and this is unfortunate,” said Ramsaran.

A release by the NLRs said Ramsaran is trying to turn a serious matter into a joke.

“While serious concerns are being raised about the financial probity of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board and its selected, instead of elected directors, one of them is busy trying to turn a fiasco into a farce.”

The press release continued, "The most important concern of the NLRs is that Ramsaran is trying to compare the TTCB with a Government ministry in the ways funds are managed, especially funds from sponsors which are earmarked by the sponsor for specified and distinct purposes and which cannot be shifted or switched from one activity to another without the permission in writing of the sponsor.

"This is the point repeatedly made in the NGC audit of the mismanagement of its funds by the TTCB. In fact, the first desperate response from the TTCB when the details of the NGC audit went public was by the president Azim Bassarath himself, who vainly sought to deceive the public by falsely claiming that the document purported to be the NGC’s audit was not authentic."