Jack sues TTFA for $15m

Already saddled with mounting debts from lawsuits and outstanding payments, the TT Football Association is facing another legal battle in court.

Calling for repayment of a $15 million loan is the association’s former adviser and former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.

Warner’s attorneys on Monday filed the claim against the TTFA in the Port of Spain High Court for debt recovery and breach of contract.

Warner wants repayment of $15, 761,003, or alternatively damages, for breach of contract with interest at the prime commercial lending rate.

Representing Warner, who is also a former CONCACAF president, are attorneys Rekha Ramjit and Alvin Pariagsingh.

According to the claim, over a period of approximately 15 years, Warner made loans to the TTFA to fund activities for members, in expressed and implied terms that they would be repaid in a reasonable time.

The claim said indebtedness to Warner was never disputed and was reflected in the TTFA’s financial statements for the years 2007 to 2012.

On March 10, 2015, Warner wrote to the TTFA asking for a statement outlining the association’s indebtedness to him. By letter, on March 21, 2015, then TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee wrote to Warner, acknowledging the $15 million debt, but said the association was at the time not in a financial position to settle in part or in whole.

A pledge was given to repay Warner when the TTFA’s financial position improved. According to Warner’s claim, the acknowledgment was unequivocal and unconditional. Warner said he was also asked to consider a reduced settlement amount.

The lawsuit says Warner continued to contact Tim Kee, pressing for a confirmed date of payment, rather than a “loose and open-ended commitment” of when the TTFA’s financial position changed or would change.

Warner continued to hold discussions with the TTFA by telephone and Tim Kee again wrote to Warner on October 30, 2015, acknowledging the debt as well as other debts to companies of which Warner is a shareholder or director.

The debt recovery claim said between then and June 2017, Warner made several oral requests for the TTFA to give a firm commitment to a date by which the debt would be settled, in whole or in part.

“No commitment was forthcoming,” it said.

A pre-action protocol letter was sent on June 6, 2017, calling on the TTFA to pay the entire $15 million or make satisfactory arrangements to pay. After an extension was sought, and given, to reply on June 23, 2017, the TTFA asked Warner to disclose copies of all documentation he had on the loans. Warner’s attorneys wrote back telling the TTFA its response was laughable at best, but referred to a confirmation of the debt owed.

Warner’s attorneys also warned that should the matter go to trial, he would contended the TTFA was acting in bad faith.

The lawsuit also said the debt was even acknowledged in the TTFA’s published audited financial statements for 2014, but was withdrawn from the accounts of 2015, and explained as a “write back of a significant amount due to a related party during the year that was either statute-barred or for which the association had no obligation to pay.”

However, Warner’s claim insists that at no time was he told that the debt was being taken off the books and pointed out that Tim Kee twice acknowledged the debt. The claim also says at no time did the TTFA tell him it was no longer under an obligation to repay him.

The lawsuit also said the TTFA’s financial statements confirmed it was a going concern and, according to the claim, the assumption of its being a going concern was maintained on the basis of the commitment of FIFA and the Government to provide, as necessary, financial and managerial support to the association.

Warner claims because of the TTFA's failure to repay the debt, he has suffered loss and damage.