Creed says all’s well with CFU funds.

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Creed says all’s well with CFU funds.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Soca Warriors management staff can now pay expenses accumulated during the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup Group Five qualifiers in St Kitts/Nevis earlier this month. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Ashwin Creed, yesterday revealed that the cheque to cover the team’s expenses was signed and ready to be handed over.
 
The T&TFF had requested $423,218 in funding to cover airfare and allowances for the team during the week-long tournament. Creed said the Federation was getting the funds yesterday as everything was signed off. Included in the sum is $218,000 which is due to the players for appearance fees.
 
In addition, the team’s expenses in St Kitts/Nevis will also see an increase as a number of players were forced to remain on the island and had to be check back in at the Ocean Terrace Hotel, Basseterre, until Friday after failing to acquire seats on flights to return home on October 15, one day after the four-team competition ended.
 
Flights in and out of the islands were delayed in the light of Tropical storm Rafael which threatened the area. In fact, only ten members of the 27-member contingent were able to secure seats on the original flight back home, while the others came home two and three days later.
 
Reached for a comment on the funds to cover the team’s extended stay in St Kitts,  team manager William Wallace said he was in the process of preparing the financial statements to take to the ministry today.

“We are still awaiting some invoices from the hotel in St Kitts/Nevis for the extra period we stayed. “They have not send them to us as yet. We are hoping that by this afternoon, we will get everything so that we can take the financial statements to the Ministry of Sport.”
 
Asked the cost of the team’s preparations and stay in St Kitts/Nevis inclusive of the extended days, Wallace said the figure is just over $300,000 with stipends for the players still to be paid.

Wallace added that the team’s technical staff was also in the process of finalising the budget preparation for the second round qualifiers against Cuba, Suriname and the runner-up of Group Two (Guyana, St Vincent/Grenadines, St Lucia and Curacao) from November 14 to 18.
 
“We are very much contemplating playing the second round qualifying group in Tobago so we will have to add in other expenses like air travel before we submit the final budget.”

Earlier this month, the Jan-Michael Williams-skippered Soca Warriors clobbered Anguilla 10-0, French Guiana (4-1) and host St Kitts/Nevis (1-0) to finish with maximum nine points and advance to the second round from which the top two teams will advance to the finals carded for Antigua and Barbuda in December.

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Ex-sport ministry PS returns to work tomorrow
By Asha Javeed (Express)

CREED IS BACK IN PM’S OFFICE

Former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport Ashwin Creed resumes work tomorrow as a permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Creed was the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport when the LifeSport debacle took place and following an audit conducted by the Ministry of Finance’s Central Audit Committee, he has been on vacation leave since last year.

The audit uncovered that LifeSport was plagued with fraud, mismanagement, theft, questionable payments and other illegal activities and is now the subject of investigations by the Integrity Commission and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.

A copy of the audit was also forwarded to head of the Public Service Reynold Cooper for review.

As the ministry’s accounting officer, Creed was ultimately in charge of the disbursement of public funds.

He had publicly stated his intention to proceed on pre-retirement leave and not resume duties as a permanent secretary.

However, last month he wrote to Cooper indicating his intention to resume duties when his leave comes to an end.

Cooper, in a telephone interview on Friday, confirmed to the Sunday Express that Creed would be joining him at the OPM tomorrow.

He said Creed had been on vacation leave and was entitled to resume work until his retirement later this year.

Asked if he would feel comfortable with Creed resuming duties as an accounting officer, given the millions of dollars that went missing from the Ministry of Sport, Cooper responded: “I will be here.”

Cooper confirmed to the Sunday Express that he had read the copy of the audit but did not make any recommendations to the Public Service Commission chairman or board on the matter.

“Remember the report gives the findings of the auditors. The principal of natural justice provides for a person named in the report must be given a fair hearing before any decision is taken,” Cooper said.

When the Sunday Express pointed out that the audit raised concern about accounting practices in the Ministry, Cooper replied: “Each PS, as the accounting officer of the ministry is personally and pecuniary responsible for all expenditure under his/her control and is accountable to the Ministry of Finance and the Economy and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. As PS to the PM I am only responsible for expenditure under my control not other ministries.”

When the Sunday Express asked Cooper to explain why Creed wanted to come back out to work, he directed those questions to Creed.

The Sunday Express was unable to contact Creed.

A text message was also sent to his attorney Peter Taylor seeking comment but no response was forthcoming.

The Sunday Express was told that a conflict may exist with Creed’s re-appointment given that his sister, Anastacia Creed, is the director of Public Administration.

Creed has taken the Ministry of Finance to court seeking a judicial review into the findings of the LifeSport audit and that matter is still before the courts.

Asked to comment on Creed’s return to work, Finance Minister Larry Howai on Friday responded: “I have absolutely no knowledge of Mr Creed returning to Office. I shall certainly look into it right away.”

Howai maintained that the audit “was turned over to the Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the Integrity Commission and was being followed up by the Office of the AG. I have not been involved in the matter since as I expect these institutions to carry out their responsibility from there.”

But pressed by the Sunday Express yesterday for an answer as to whether he was comfortable with Creed being an accounting officer at the Office of the Prime Minister, Howai responded: “Sounds like a leading question but in short I am advised that he would not be assigned to any ministry as an accounting officer. To answer your question directly (et ceteris paribus), I would not be comfortable with him as an accounting officer.”

Creed is due to retire from the Public Service in July. He has been absent from the Ministry of Sport since April last year and went on official leave on May 13, 2014.

The Express had reported that Creed fled the country after he received threats against his life for the execution of the LifeSport programme.

His official reason was to deal with family business out of the country.

He was expected back at work on July 1, 2014 but requested additional leave until July 31.

Last July, Creed’s lawyer, Taylor, said his client would return to work: “He instructs that when his business abroad is completed he will be available.”

However, on July 25 Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar laid the LifeSport audit in Parliament and Creed opted to go on pre-retirement leave.

Creed and three former directors of the LifeSport programme—Cornelius Price, Theodore Charles and Ronnell Barclay—have filed for judicial review of the audit into the now defunct programme.

The team of four’s legal team is headed by Taylor is seeking legal costs from Government, damages for and/or injury to the claimant’s respective reputations; general damages; interest and any other relief as the court deems fit and appropriate.

In affidavits filed by Creed and Price, both stated they were not given the opportunity to respond to the concerns unearthed by the CAC during the audit they undertook on the recommendation of Persad-Bissessar.

They both argue that the CAC exceeded the mandate outlined by the Prime Minister.

Persad-Bissessar did not respond to a text query from the Sunday Express yesterday.

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Acting on advice of Public Service head...
By Ria Taitt Political Editor

CREED PM’S PICK

It was the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who, acting on a recommendation from the Head of the Public Service and Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister, Reynold Cooper, moved Ashwin Creed from the Sport Ministry and assigned him to the Office of the Prime Minister as a Permanent Secretary.

Asked yesterday who had the constitutional authority to transfer Creed from the Ministry of Sport to the Prime Minister’s Office, Cooper said according to Section 121, subsection 6 of the Constitution, that power resides with the Prime Minister.

“That is the constitutional position. But what would happen is that I would go to the Prime Minister and say, ‘Listen, we have a vacancy here (in the Prime Minister’s office). Because there is a PS in all the ministries. There is currently no ministry out there without a PS. So if he is coming back in, you have to make room for him and there is a vacancy here in the Office of the Prime Minister, so he is being placed in a vacant position. And I was the one who said, ‘Listen, put him here because there is a vacancy’,” he said.

Quoting Section 121, subsection 6, Cooper said: “The power to make appointments on transfer to the following offices shall vest in the Prime Minister a) Any office of Permanent Secretary from one such office to another such office carrying the same salary”.

This contrasts with statements made on Sunday by Communications Minister Vasant Bharath who had said the Prime Minister and the Government had no power to intervene in this issue.

Cooper said placing Creed in any other ministry would have meant a certain measure of disruption, since a PS (in whatever other ministry he went to) would have had to be moved.

“The Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance and the Economy are the only two ministries with more than one Permanent Secretary,” Cooper stated.

However, Cooper said Creed was not the accounting officer in the Prime Minister’s office, it was he (Cooper), the more senior officer and the substantive Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister.

“There is only one accounting office in every ministry. You can’t have four persons dipping into one pool of money,” Cooper said, adding that this would be a recipe for confusion.

Under the Exchequer and Audit regulation, it is the Minister of Finance who selects the accounting officer in each ministry, he stated.

Cooper also explained the Public Service Commission (PSC) was not involved in this matter because Creed was on vacation leave, not pre-retirement leave.

Cooper said Creed went on vacation in May/June of last year. He said while Creed was on vacation leave he wrote to the director of Human Resources in the Ministry of Sport indicating that he wanted to retire with immediate effect.

The director stated he could not retire immediately because he was on vacation leave and that his retirement therefore takes effect at the end of the vacation leave, which was supposed to end in April of this year.

However, Cooper said Creed in January called him to say he wanted to revoke that letter (which he had requested immediate retirement) and he wanted to come back out to work.

“And, I told him, ‘Okay, give me enough time,’ because I wanted to make sure that I had a position available. Because remember he was on leave and while he was on leave, someone was placed at the Ministry of Sport (as Permanent Secretary). And he have a new Minister (of Sport). To disrupt the flow of things after the new Minister has gotten accustomed (to that PS)...”.

Cooper said people were looking at Creed’s assignment to the Office of the Prime Minister as a “clandestine thing” but it was nothing like that.

However, Creed, who was originally due to return to work yesterday, has requested additional time to attend to some personal business,

“He said he would call me to let me know,” Cooper said, when asked when exactly Creed would be reporting for duty.

Told that Creed appeared to have tremendous flexibility in determining when he would report for duty, Cooper said: “He would probably call me tomorrow. I won’t force him... it is a human being that I am dealing with... He called and said he had some things he was doing and he needed some time.”

Cooper continued: “He was due to come out on Monday, but he decided not to.”

Cooper said Creed will be 59 years old this April. He said if he had retired this year as he originally requested, it would have been a voluntary retirement because compulsory retirement for him—that is at the age of 60—would be due in April, 2016.

Cooper said this was why the PSC did not have to sign off on anything because Creed was on vacation leave. And it was not even vacation leave prior to retirement, since Creed’s vacation leave was ending a whole year before his retirement date (of April 2016), Cooper noted.

He said in the Public Service one can accumulate vacation up to 90 days, after which one has to get the permission of the Permanent Secretary or in the case of a Permanent Secretary, the Head of the Public Service.

Creed and LifeSport

Ashwin Creed was the Permanent Secretary and accounting officer in the Ministry of Sport during the entire period of the LifeSport scandal.

The controversial programme which absorbed over $400 million in taxpayers money, was disbanded following damning findings of the Ministry of Finance’s Central Audit Committee (CAC).

That audit concluded that LifeSport was plagued with fraud, mismanagement, theft, questionable payments and other illegal activities. The report was referred by the Prime Minister to the Integrity Commission, the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions for further investigations.

As Permanent Secretary Creed had financial responsibility for the disbursement of funds in the ministry, which had oversight of the programme. He had the power to intervene to deal with any abuses on the programme, but such abuses went unchallenged by the ministry. One such abuse was the payment of $34 million to one contractor, Adolphus Daniell, for doing absolutely nothing. That contractor has refused to return the money.

Creed left the country suddenly on May 13, 2014, after alleged death threats against his life for the execution of the LifeSport programme. He has said, however, that he was on leave at the time.

Creed and three former directors of the LifeSport programme have filed for judicial review of the Report of the CAC. Then sport minister Anil Roberts resigned following the tabling of the report of the CAC.

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No Creed at OPM
T&T Newsday

ASHWIN Creed did not report for duty yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in St Clair, according to Head of the Public Service, Reynold Cooper.

On Sunday, a newspaper report claimed Creed would have assumed duties yesterday as the new Permanent Secretary (in the Office of the Prime Minister. However responding to queries from Newsday, Cooper replied, “Mr Creed did not assume (office) today.”

Stating Creed was appointed to the post of Permanent Secretary on March 11, 2012 by the Public Service Commission, Cooper explained, “Under 121(6) of the Constitution the power to make appointments on transfer of appointed Permanent Secretaries from one such office to another carrying the same salary, is vested in the Prime Minister.”

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley made reference to the particular provision of the Constitution in a statement that was issued earlier in the day.

However, Cooper noted that while the Prime Minister possesses the power to transfer appointed Permanent Secretaries from one office to another carrying the same salary, “Appointments of Public Officers by the Public Service Commission are guided by the Public Service regulations, and not by the views of any one individual.”

While Creed is listed as one of the persons interviewed in the Lifesport Audit, Cooper explained “Disciplinary action can only be initiated against a named public officer when a specific allegation is made against the said public officer.”

Amongst the other persons interviewed in the audit, as listed in Section 7.3 of the report, were former Sport minister Anil Roberts, programme director Cornelius Price, and the board of directors of the SporTT company.

The audit concluded; there were widespread breaches of proper procurement practices; the approval given by Cabinet was not strictly adhered to; persons at the coordinating level may have been involved in criminal activity; there were several instances of fraudulent activity by suppliers to the programme; there may have been widespread theft of equipment from the programme;

Also, there may have been breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act; exorbitant and questionable payments were made in several instances and there was poor control and monitoring of the programme by the Ministry of Sport.

The report also said, “Given the widespread nature of the breaches, it is difficult to understand how they went unnoticed by the Ministry of Sport.”

RELATED NEWS

Rowley questions PM on Creed
By Clint Chan Tack

OPPOSITION Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday questioned whether Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar exercised her powers under the Constitution to transfer Ashwin Creed from the Sports Ministry to the Office of the Prime Minister, to serve as her Permanent Secretary (PS).

Rowley also called upon the Public Service Commission (PSC) to break its silence on this “well-known scandalous state of affairs over which it is presiding.”

“The Commission must inform the public whether it approved Mr Ashwin Creed’s return to work at the Prime Minister’s Office,”

He added that if the PSC gave no such approval, they must obtain the relevant facts from Head of the Public Service, Reynold Cooper “and make a clear statement to the public.”

Referring to a media report which alleged that Creed was due to begin work at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, Rowley said he noted this “rather disturbing development” with grave concern.

Arguing that Communication Minister Vasant Bharath on Sunday misled the population when he indicated that Persad-Bissessar was not involved in this matter, and this was a matter for the PSC, Rowley declared, “Minister Bharath is well aware that under the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, Chapter 9, Part 1, Provision 121 (6) (a): It is only the Prime Minister who is vested with the authority to transfer Permanent Secretaries.”

He added, “not even the PSC has such powers.” Rowley explained this particular provision gives power to the Prime Minister to make appointments on transfer of any PS from one such office to another such office, carrying the same salary.

This provision also gives the Prime Minister the power to make appointments on transfer to “any office the holder of which is required to reside outside Trinidad and Tobago for the proper discharge of his functions, and such offices in the Ministry of External Affairs as may from time to time be designated by the Prime Minister after consultation with the PSC.”

In light of Persad-Bissessar being vested with such Constitutional powers, Rowley said the Opposition holds the strong view that “it was Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar who exercised her powers under the aforementioned Constitutional Provision and transferred Mr Ashwin Creed out of the Ministry of Sport to her office.”

Rowley said if this is not so, “then we must be told under whose authority was he removed from the Ministry of Sport to her office, without her knowledge and consent as Minister Bharath would have us believe.”

Rowley recalled that at the height of the revelations of the Lifesport scandal, which revealed serious breaches with respect to the carrying out of the duties of the Accounting Officer of the Sport Ministry, “it was put in the public domain by Mr Creed and his lawyer Mr Peter Taylor, that the PS who left the country on emergency leave would proceed on pre-retirement leave and not return to the Public Service.”

He said at the time of these statements and even up to today, neither Creed nor Taylor challenged the veracity of such reports in the media.

Rowley said Cooper must explain if in his capacity as Head of the Public Service he made any recommendations to the PSC regarding the nature of the very serious allegations made against Creed in the Life Sport Audit Report and other complaints.

Stating Cooper has a responsibility to submit such a report to the PSC to investigate all allegations, Rowley said, “The question is why Mr Cooper failed and/or refused to do this job?”

He added that as PS to the Prime Minister, “the population would want to know if he was under instructions to leave the report alone, and if so by whom.”