Cricket board's special general meeting still on despite legal threats

Wednesday’s special general meeting of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) executive to move a motion of no confidence against treasurer Kiswah Chaitoo is still on.

This was confirmed by TTCB president Azim Bassarath on Tuesday.

The meeting is being held to move a motion of no confidence against Chaitoo after he discovered, in December 2023, and brought to the attention of the board, an alleged misappropriation of TTCB funds to the estimated tune of $500k.

According to earlier reports, the misappropriation of funds took place for around five years, and led to an employee resigning. Additionally, it was also revealed that it was common practice for blank cheques to be available in case situations arose where money was immediately required. This has since stopped.

Chaitoo, an experienced forensic accountant, said he wanted to protect his name and reported the matter to the Fraud Squad.

But his actions ruffled some feathers among the executive, and on January 10, at an executive meeting, a motion of no confidence was moved with nine of the 11 members voting for the motion, one voted against and the other abstained.

However, Chaitoo can only be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the entire 49-member board.

At Wednesday's meeting, Bassarath said, “That’s (meeting) only for the board members. The meeting is still on.”

Additionally on Tuesday, a newspaper reported that the TTCB was issued a pre-action protocol letter from three zones – Central, North and South West – urging the executive to reconsider and/or suspend this meeting until an “independent investigation” is done.

It also said if the meeting were to be held, they would be seeking “injunctive relief.”

In the letter, Bassarath said, “We’re dealing with that as we speak.”

Regarding the ongoing investigation by the Fraud Squad, Bassarath, who is also Cricket West Indies vice president, said that it is “not be in the best interest and/or premature of us to be making any statement at this time.”