Dear Editor,
I find it very disheartening that the TTFF has awarded Simpauls Travel Service the sole rights to sell T&T’s allocation of World Cup tickets. Mr. Warner continues to act in a high handed manner and is using this moment in history to profit from our euphoria.
How is it that the man, who touts bank-rolling T&T football, has ties to FIFA and CONCACAF can simply without the benefit of bids, award himself and his family the sole rights to sell those coveted World Cup tickets? All this contrary to the FIFA Code of Ethics too!
Mr. Warner revealed that Simpauls has paid the TTFF some $500,000TT for those rights, but exactly what are those tickets really worth to the TTFF? And does the TTFF also get a commission from the sale of each of those packages? Especially since it has been explained that the Warners stand to make around $50 million TT on the sale of these packages.
Jack Warner has also been reputed to have financed Trinidad and Tobago’s football many times over, yet when he was supposedly walking away from the TTFF, Mr. Ollie Camps bemoaned the fact that if Warmer walked away, then the TTFF would be immediately liable for the repayment of millions of dollars in loans to Mr. Warner. That statement amounts to blackmail. Can someone in the TTFF please explain, did Jack Warner finance or loan the TTFF the supposed millions? If they were indeed loans, can the TTFF or Mr. Warner please provide a detailed list of the terms of the loans, the exact amount owed to Mr. Warner and the APR of those loans?
The TTFF has been notoriously short of any semblance of transparency and figures are routinely spouted to the media and the public, without the benefit of any actual budgets, incomes and expenditures. I have seen some basic profit and loss sheets in recent time creeping out of the TTFF, but they often beg some serious questioning. For example after the recently concluded play-off games against Bahrain, the TTFF reported a profit of $80,000TT from Broadcast rights. Now can someone in the TTFF explain why the federation only made $80,000 TT on a game that was broadcasted to nations all over the world? Did the TTFF literally charge pennies for the rights? Or, is someone else, say Mr. Warner in possession of the broadcast rights and pays the TTFF some token in appreciation? Another question begging for an answer is: Has the TTFF ever attempted to re-pay Mr. Warner, if yes when, how much and how much more is owed?
Mr. Warner has continually decried the lack of Corporate and Governmental involvement in Trinidad and Tobago football, what Mr. Warner needs to really focus on is why this is so! Which organization would blindly pump money into a cause without proper accounting procedures and at least attempts at integrity in business operations? Mr. Warner cannot expect trust if the TTFF hires an auditor who is also being paid by his private business interests. It is a simple matter of conflict of interest and is not an acceptable business practice.
Now that the euphoria of qualification has somewhat subsided, we need to separate fact from emotion. The Government needs to see a detailed budget on how public funds will be allocated, and added to any funding should be the caveat of having the TTFF becoming more transparent in the future. Auditors should be independent and not employed in any of Jack Warner’s private companies. Detailed information on issues such as broadcast rights, team transportation and expenditures need to become public domain. The TTFF belongs to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, not Austin Jack Warner. The TTFF should be about advancing the state of the game on a national and international level and taking care of T&T footballers. It should not be the personal cash cow of any individual or group of individuals.
