Ex-TT Cricket Board treasurer's appeal hearing adjourned

KISWAH Chaitoo’s appeal against his February 28 removal as TT Cricket Board (TTCB) treasurer has been adjourned to allow the board’s attorneys to file further written submissions, in response to Chaitoo’s.

This was confirmed by Chaitoo’s legal team Dinesh Rambally and Stefan Ramkissoon on Tuesday, after his appeal hearing by the TTCB’s Supreme Appellate Committee at the National Cricket Centre in Couva.

Rambally and Ramkissoon were ready to proceed but committee chairman Justice Prakash Moosai said the board’s attorneys needed to respond in writing, to the previous submissions made by Chaitoo.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the committee said there were some “interesting” and “pertinent” points raised in Chaitoo’s earlier submissions, and the matter could only go on when the board responds in writing.

The TTCB, guided by attorneys Navindra Ramnanan and Henry Chase, was given a May 27 deadline to file their submissions. Chaitoo’s legal team was also given a June 10 deadline to file their final submissions, in response to the submissions presented by TTCB.

After reviewing both sets of submissions, Justice Moosai and the rest of the committee will review them and indicate to both parties whether or not a further in-person hearing is needed or the Supreme Appellate committee will determine the matter on paper.

By mid-June, hopefully, Chaitoo’s attorneys confirmed, both parties would be advised on the way forward with the hearing.

Chaitoo’s appeal on his removal as TTCB treasurer was a result of a culmination of events that began in December 2023. There, the then treasurer revealed to board members at an executive meeting, of a possible misuse of approximately $500,000, over a five-year period.

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

After he made the report, the executive held another meeting on January 10, where a motion of no confidence was successfully moved against Chaitoo.

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

Six days later, Rambally and Ramkissoon appealed the board’s process to move the vote of no confidence against him and deemed it illegal. They sent a notice of appeal to the board’s Supreme Appellant Committee that day.

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 that as a professional accountant, he was bound by the Institute of the Chartered Account Code of Ethics’ integrity code.

Since then, the Central Zone and North Zone cricket councils have issued statements questioning the grounds for Chaitoo’s removal and some of the board’s financial decisions and transparency over the years.

Also representing the board on Tuesday was general secretary Altaf Baksh.