Life Sport programme Thread.

[Socapro]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Sport_Ministry_to_launch_LIFEsport_programme-159382675.html

Sport Ministry to launch LIFEsport programme
Story Created: Jun 17, 2012 at 11:52 PM ECT

The Ministry of Sport will launch their LIFEsport programme today at Queen's Hall, St Ann's, an initiative geared at providing opportunities for "at-risk" youth through sport.
 
Close to 120 youngsters from youth from "at-risk communities", a Ministry release said on Friday, will benefit from the programme, which is the brainchild of Sport Minister Anil Roberts.
 
Participants will engage in sport training in boxing, athletics, basketball and football, while there will also be sessions targeting coach education, facility/grounds management, life and vocational skills training.

[Socapro]

http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2012-06-19/minister-roberts-warner-launches-lifesport

Minister Roberts, Warner launches LIFEsport
Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Nicholas Clarke

The Ministry of Sport will begin working with young people from 33 at risk areas throughout the country as part of its new outreach programme, LIFEsport. This was revealed during the initiative’s formal launch at Queen’s Hall in St Ann’s on Monday afternoon. The event was attended by stakeholders from the government and private sectors, who were screened a short documentary featuring interviews with young men from the Laventille area. Addressing the gathering, Minister of Sport Anil Roberts said the aim of the programme would be to counter the country’s crime problem by giving neglected young people more opportunities to make something of their lives. “They want to be on track,” he said. “It’s just that they’ve never been taught that the track was made for them. “The concept of LIFEsport is to change that philosophy and to let our young people know that those who did not come from privileged backgrounds and those not lucky enough to have two parents and a stable family, that there is a place in T&T for them.”
 
He added that the programme would involve “using the passion, the excitement, the love, the adrenaline of sport to bring young people in and then keep them on the right path. We will attract them to sport, pay them a stipend, train them, make them healthier, get them off the ground, get them off the drugs, make them use their time productively and then develop whatever skills they have.” The former television show host first developed the concept in 2007 while he campaigned for the Congress of the People in the Sea Lots area. “I walked into a football game with some young boys and I sat to watch them and two of them, aged about eight and ten, came up and asked: ‘Sir, what somebody like you doing in Sea Lots?’ At eight years old, somehow he had a concept that he was inferior and that I should not have been where he lived.”
 
He added he had also been inspired by the success of the sporting programmes in Cuba. Later, Minister of Works and Transport Jack Warner called on the public to assist with the ongoing crisis. “Crime is not the responsibility of the Minister of National Security alone but rather it is the business of all of us and therefore, we must take a lead in a sport-based strategy to reduce crime and this must be done to steer the youths away from negative social activities,” he said.
 
“Putting youths in prison has failed, community service hours and boot camps have failed...It is not a time to lose hope. However, it is time for us to devise new plans.” Warner also cited the previous administration’s “mashing up” of community grounds in Diego Martin and Santa Cruz as the catalyst for increased criminal activity.

[Socapro]

Auditor General cites discrepancies in Life Sport
By Andre Bagoo Tuesday, June 3 2014 (T&T Newday)

THE AUDITOR General has recorded discrepancies in the accounts of the controversial Life Sport programme – which has been subject to competing claims from Government ministers over allegations of financial irregularity – and has found the programme to be “high risk” because of a lack of internal controls at the Sport Ministry.

The Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the Financial Year 2013, also discloses three loans, totalling $154 million, were issued to the LifeSport programme via the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago/First Citizens Bank. These loans appear to be separate and apart from the programme’s ministerial head allocation detailed in the 2013 Budget documents.

In a review of expenditure of accounting officers, the Auditor General, Sharman Ottley, flags questions over invoices relating to mysterious companies and purported duplicated payments to programme participants across several areas and to the same single bank account. “Three invoices for equal amounts totalling $259,350 for catering of meals for the in 3 different areas – Marabella, Morvant and Bagatelle – did not reflect any business address or telephone contact number for the supplier,” the Report states.

Further, questions over the possibly duplication of payment of stipends are raised.

“From a review of one month’s payments under the Life Sport Programme, 59 participants who were seen to have been paid stipends totalling $88,500 for St Joseph, were also seen to have been paid $88,500 for Maloney,” the Report states. “In addition, a further amount of $76,500 was paid to 51 participants for Maloney. Also, payments to 6 participants in the Maraval area were made to the same bank account.”

The Auditor General deems the programme “high risk” because it was not included under ministry controls. “Analysis of the internal audit programme of work for the year revealed that high risk areas such as the Life Sport programme, Development Programme and Infrastructure Development were not included for review,” the Report states.

Information in the Report also discloses two loans issued for the Life Sport programme via the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago.

Treasury Statements detailing Letters of Comfort issued by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago list two loans by the company which appear to have been designated for use by the programme. The lending agency for one loan, for $77.2 million, is identified as FCB Ltd (Life Sport (1)). The second loan, for $76.8 million, is identified as FCB Ltd (Life Sport (2))

The balances outstanding on both loans, as at September 30, 2013, are: $77.2 million and $40.4 million respectively (a total of $154 million). These figures for the Sport Company appear separate and apart from other figures relating to the funding of the programme. For instance, the Draft Estimates of Recurrent Expenditure states that for the year 2013, the programme, termed “Pathway Programme - Life-Sport”, was expected to incur $29 million in expenditure. In 2014 that allocation rose to $113.5 million.

The Life Sport programme was last month moved by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar from under the Ministry of Sport to the Ministry of National Security over concerns about its functioning. In the wake of this, Minister of National Security Gary Griffith expressed concerns over possible “ghost gangs” in the programme. Minister of Sport Anil Roberts and the programme’s director, however, defended the programme, with Roberts describing it as a “tremendous success”. An audit by the Ministry of Finance was announced. In relation to the Ministry of Sport, the Report of the Auditor General raises — as it does several ministries across the board, questions about compliance with audit process and over documentation relating to specific transactions.

The Report, tabled in Parliament last month, flags on transaction relating to multiple payments to several companies which had an overlapping director.

The documents states, “Five payments totalling $680,455 were seen to be made to 2 companies with a common Director for work of the same description undertaken at 5 recreation grounds, namely Maloney, Samaroo, Mayaro, Moruga and Morne Diablo.” The issue had a previous incarnation.

“Serious concerns were expressed in the 2012 Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts about payments totalling $1,996,400 made to one of these companies,” stated the Report.

Additionally, “Original invoices as required by Financial Instruction 113(1) for two payments totalling $251,859.20 to one company were not produced for audit.”

In relation to current transfers and subsidies of the ministry, the Auditor General found that, “Controls over payments in this area also continue to be weak.” This included payment to one company for which there did not appear to be any record. “From the sample selected, invoices were not presented to support a payment of $400,000 to one company,” the Report stated. “A search of the online Companies Registry did not reveal any company registered in the name given. Invoices were also not seen for an amount of $63,900 paid to one person under this vote. Quotations were seen to be used to effect these payments.” In relation to expenditure control generally, the Report states, “Funds were not seen to be committed in the Vote Book before vouchers totalling $1,705,252.40 were passed for payment as evidence of ensuring that votes are sufficient to meet all commitments. Minister of Finance Circular No 23 of 1959 on the subject of Accounting for Commitments and Financial Regulations 66 and 67 refer. The breach of these Regulations was also reported in the prior year.”

The Daily Abstract of Payments for the months of July, August and September 2013 2.195were not produced. This practice is in contravention of the Auditor General’s constitutional and legal right of access and Financial Instruction 43.

[Flex]

$34M FOR NO WORK
By NEWSDAY REPORTER

THE LIFE SPORT Programme continues to be embroiled in corruption allegations with further revelation yesterday that a whopping $34 million was paid to a contractor for the provision of educational training services in Math, English and Modern Technology with a focus on numeracy and literacy, but such training to persons in the programme was never done.

Ruth Marchan, the Deputy Director of Physical Education and Sport at the Ministry of Sport who on Monday exclusively disclosed to Newsday, a plot to kill her and her colleagues, yesterday said the $34 million was paid in two tranches. The first tranche, of $17 million was paid in September and the other, in the sum of $17 million was made in December 2013.

However, there is no work to account for the monies put out by Government with well over two years gone in the programme. According to Marchan, the contractor is a well-known figure of an educational institution in Port-of-Spain, who is now on the run. She admitted in a recent report that threats on her life stemmed from disagreements with certain top officials in the Ministry of Sport related to the her Life Sport Programme and because these officials had a political agenda.

“I was just there doing my best at the ministry and there were people who wanted me out because I did not concede to some of their requests. One of the things they wanted me to cover up was the $34 million to this contractor but, I said no because I felt it was way too much for such a contract” Marchan explained.

Meanwhile, information about the $34 million contract was corroborated by an ex-executive at the Life Sport who resigned recently. This executive who wished to remain anonymous, told Newsday yesterday he was asked to sign off on an agreement of $34 million to be paid to the contractor for services in Math, English and Modern Technology with a focus on numeracy and literacy, but he did not sign because he felt there was a need for more information on the project.

He noted the agreement had already been signed off on by the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago and he would have been an additional signatory.

The programme began with 33 centres throughout Trinidad and Tobago and was quickly expanded to 43 due to the demand in the different communities. However, when Newsday contacted the contractor in question yesterday, he refused to respond to questions about the $34 million contract. He did disclose however an involvement with the programme on two fronts: personal and via a company of which he was chairman.

He made it clear all work that he did in a personal capacity in the Life Sport programme was done free of charge. “I in fact volunteered to work on the Life Sport programme to help with the development of the youth and all my work was voluntary work” the contractor said.

However, when quizzed as to whether he had been given a contract by the life sport he said, “I was never given money physically, but I was the chairman of a company that had a contractual agreement with the Life Sport company. Whether that company was my company and if the company had a $34 million contract with the Life Sport, I cannot speak about that” the contractor said.

He added, “I left the Life Sport programme on August 15 last year. I think it will be highly unethical to talk about such a situation to someone on the phone.” He pointed out that although he had no reason to defend himself, concerns about him being on the run are far from the truth. “I answer my phone calls at all times but if I am unable to answer then everyone knows that they can get me on my email,” the contractor said. He admitted to being abroad at the moment, but when asked when he would be returning to Trinidad, he said that was personal and he did not wish to discuss that information.

The contractor who is a representative of Oxford and Cambridge told Newsday also that he left the Life Sport programme last September.

[mukumsplau]

when i read that above then the article about lack of funding for the football programmes...i just shook my head and steups..

[Tiresais]

Disgraceful. No surprise that Warner was involved, and Anil Roberts looks pretty shady given the massive corruption on his watch

[zuluwarrior]

I HAVE TO FLEE
By Newsday Staff Saturday, June 28 2014

click on pic to zoom in

Deputy Director of Physical Education and Sport, Ruth Marchan, is planning to flee the country out of fear following the murder of Curtis “Tall Man” Gibson, the man she described as her bodyguard and who she claimed a couple weeks ago was among persons, including herself, close to the Life Sport Programme targeted to be killed.

Gibson, 42, one of four persons associated with the programme who Marchan revealed was under threat, was shot to death at his Malabar home in Arima early Thursday morning. He was asleep with his common-law wife when gunmen broke down his door and sprayed him with bullets. His wife escaped unharmed.

Up to press time, no suspect was held for Gibson’s murder. Autopsy reports confirmed Gibson died for shock haemorrhaging, consistent with being shot multiple times. Police said Gibson had been killed “mafia style”, as he also had a single gunshot to the head.

A terrified Marchan told Newsday yesterday, “I will have to give up my entire life which means that I will have to sell my house and my vehicles and leave the country.”

“I have been forced to live in fear and I want the authorities and whoever to help me,” Marchan said.

Marchan added that she will not have a job anymore since she would not be able to return to a place where she will not be comfortable. She did not wish to expand on any further aspects of the Life Sport Programme, except to say that things had gone too far in that project.

But Caryl Keller, Adviser to the Minister of Sport, refuted claims that Gibson’s murder had any relation with the Life Sport Programme. He said that killing was as a result of the spiralling crime rate in the country.

Keller also believes Marchan had become paranoid and he had not been able to make sense out of all she has been saying about the Life Sport Programme. He said what Marchan has been saying was just not logical.

Asked why Marchan was away from work at the Ministry, Keller said as far as he knew she was on vacation and was expected to return to duties on August 12.

A statement from the Sports Ministry said Marchan had no authority to speak about Life Sport.

“The management of the Life Sport Programme wishes to inform that Ms Ruth Marchan has no authority to speak on behalf of the Life Sport Programme as it is not formally under her purview at the Ministry of Sport,” the release said. Keller also lashed out at Minister of National Security, Gary Griffith on claims that the programme was filled with criminals. He said the Minister had been giving inaccurate information about the programme.

Griffith in an interview with Newsday yesterday said Gibson’s killing proves that criminality exists within the scheme.

Newsday had asked for his response to the death such as if he would probe it, to which he said, “no” because that is the purview of the Commissioner of Police.

“What I would say though, it would emphasise the fact again...that there are certain persons in the Life Sport who claim that my statements, that there were questionable activities, and my accusations were unfounded and were a figment of my imagination, and those are the same individuals that then came after the fact to claim their lives were at risk, based on questionable activities in the same Life Sport,” Griffith said. Life Sport is now under the National Security Ministry after Prime Minister ordered the programme be transferred from the Sports Ministry and also commissioned an audit by Finance Minister Larry Howai.

Furthermore, Keller said Gibson has never been employed with Life Sport. This supported what was said by Sport Minister, Anil Roberts, during the sitting of Parliament yesterday.

Roberts told the Parliament Gibson was not associated with the Life Sport Programme in “any way or fashion,” disputing claims that were made by Marchan when she first revealed the ills of the scheme.

Yesterday, the Public Transport Service Corporation issued a release expressing condolences on the death of Gibson while at the same time saying that he worked with the corporation for some 12 years as a CSR II (customer service representative) Facilities Administration. Newsday understands Gibson last had responsibility, as of 2010, for the maxi taxi bays at the public transport hub, City Gate, Port-of-Spain. Linus Phillip, president of the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Association, expressing condolences said Gibson was well-liked, and a good person.

The Sports Ministry also issued a release dissociating Gibson with the Life Sport Programme.

“News reports which refer to Gibson as a Life Sport employee are totally erroneous, inaccurate and absolutely misleading. It is with great concern that this misinformation continues to be published in the media, even in the midst of an audit of the programme currently being undertaken by the Ministry of Finance,” the release said.

But Newsday sources confirmed a connection, revealing that Gibson, who was quite close to an imam in an east Trinidad mosque, was the man who would go to various communities to get young potential candidates for the Life Sport Programme.

According to the source, Gibson was the “main man” in the programme. “He was the man on the ground,” the source said. “He would work for the imam by going out and convincing youngsters between the ages of 16 and 25 years who were eyeing a life of crime to join the Life Sport Programme as it led them towards a positive life.”

Keller also told Newsday that Permanent Secretary in the Sports Ministry, Ashwin Creed, is not missing as has been reported but has been out of the country on family business including securing United States citizenship since his daughter already enjoys that status. Buxo Potts, special adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Boxing Board, refuted claims made recently by Marchan, linking him to the plot to harm her and other officials of th Sports Ministry. He said he has never and still does not have any involvement in the Life Sport Programme.


I hope they would put the 2 pull man from room 201 balls in a draw and slam it real hard .


suddenly the life sport program became a death sport program

[Flex]

PS Creed not around to provide info for audit
By Asha Javeed (Express).

LifeSport Hold-Up

Even as the Central Audit Unit of the Ministry of Finance is investigating the controversial LifeSport programme in the Ministry of Sport, its permanent secretary, Ashwin Creed, remains out of the country and unable to provide answers required by the Unit on the programme’s expenses.

As PS, Creed is the ministry’s accounting officer who would have final say on how money for the programme was eventually spent.
LifeSport’s expenses since 2012 have amounted to about $400 million.

Creed has been in and out of the ministry since April.

LifeSport was not audited by the Auditor General for its 2013 report but several discrepancies were noted in the ministry’s payments.

On April 14, Creed contacted head of the Public Service Reynold Cooper requesting “emergency leave”, faxed him a letter with the request and left Trinidad the same day.

The Sunday Express understands that it is because of death threats he received linked to the LifeSport programme.

Cooper has confirmed these events.

The Sunday Express understands that Creed returned to Trinidad for a brief visit and then departed again.

“Mr Creed went on his business. Approval would have been granted to Mr Creed for two weeks of leave on May 13. He left the country on May 13, and it was only on May 26 or 27 you began to hear the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) ordered a probe of the LifeSport Programme,” his attorney Peter Taylor said.

Even after the Prime Minister directed a probe be conducted, as the ministry’s accounting officer, Creed was not present to assist the officers in the audit.

Two permanent secretaries yesterday said if an audit was being conducted in the ministry, ideally the PS should be there.  And given the controversy that the LifeSport programme has generated, it was even incumbent that Creed be present to account.

By June 3, Creed was still away.

Taylor had said then: “Mr Creed called Mr Cooper on June 3 and indicated to him—‘listen, I need more leave, I will be communicating with you in due course’. He called back on June 7 and a fax was sent to his office at the Ministry of Sport indicating that he sought leave from the Minister of Sport (Anil Roberts).”

Taylor explained that Creed cannot be disciplined for taking his leave and extending it because he required “personal family business, which requires an extensive period of time”.

Creed’s leave ends tomorrow.

The Sunday Express was unable to contact Cooper to find out when exactly Creed was supposed to report to work.

According to the 98th Salaries Review Commission, a PS is entitled to 30 calendar days of vacation. But the Sunday Express understands that a PS usually accumulates a lot of time off during the year.

When the Sunday Express tried to reach Creed through Taylor on when he was expected back into the country, Taylor replied: “I am unable to say.”

The Sunday Express also asked Taylor if it could address questions to Creed through him and Taylor replied, “I would advise him”.

Yesterday, Ruth Marchan, the deputy director of Physical Education and Sport at the Ministry of Sport, told the Sunday Express that she was being advised on her media statements by Creed.
 
A messy affair

Marchan told the Sunday Express that bringing the case to the media was her best defence to protect her life after she received a death threat.

She had blamed the threats on boxing promoter Buxo Potts and a ministry official.

Potts denied the threats in an interview with the Sunday Express last week.

The Sunday Express understands that before allegations were made by Marchan about Potts, they had enjoyed a cordial friendship.

Marchan and her husband Edward Marchan have been recipients of cheques from the Unified Promoters Boxing Association—a company co-owned by Potts, which has had sponsorship from the Sport Ministry.

Marchan’s husband was at one point employed as a head coach at Yan’s Sporting Academy, which is also owned by Potts.
Marchan was also linked in a relationship with a senior Ministry of Sport official.  Asked about this and other personal allegations, Marchan yesterday responded: “Prove it.”

In an interview on Friday, Potts said the problem with Marchan started in 2011. He accused Marchan of being disingenuous with the corruption she chose to highlight in the press.

He said: “The young men who the LifeSport programme was designed to assist, they are the victims. The structure of the programme is one of the greatest.  If you look at the structure of the programme, it can make a difference to the young men’s lives. It’s a good programme. The real criminals in the programme is not the young people.”

Marchan did not want to comment on Potts’ statement.

Creed could not be reached for comment.
 
The Jamaat bodyguard

On June 26, Marchan’s bodyguard Curtis “Tallman” Gibson was murdered in his bed at his home in Malabar.

She said while Sport Minister Anil Roberts was right that Gibson was not employed at the ministry, he was involved in the LifeSport programme.

Marchan explained that Gibson was brought on board because of his relationship with Imam Hassan Ali, the head of the Carapo-based Jamaat.

She said the Imam asked for Gibson, whom he considered a son, to be his liaison on the ground. She said he was paid by the Imam and not the ministry.

Police records list Gibson as a repeat offender.

He was jailed in 1999 for drug possession. He had appealed this sentence and was jailed for two years with hard labour. There are two outstanding warrants in his name—one for failing to attend court and another for failure to pay a fine.

There was no firearm licence issued under his name.

During an interview with the Sunday Express on June 11 with Marchan, Gibson was present and displayed a gun.

Marchan admitted that she had a good rapport with “the people on the ground” from the Rastacity gang to the Carapo-based Jamaat al Muslimeen but feared repercussions from inside the ministry.  A statement from the Sport Ministry on Friday said Marchan had no authority to speak about Life Sport.

“The management of the LifeSport Programme wishes to inform that Ms Ruth Marchan has no authority to speak on behalf of the LifeSport Programme as it is not formally under her purview at the Ministry of Sport,”  it said.

About LifeSport

LifeSport was a brainchild of Sport Minister Anil Roberts.

It is one of the Government’s most expensive social programmes which was designed to target criminals.

The programme, which was started in 2012, had a budget of $6,647,000.

LifeSport pays $1,500 a month to “criminal elements” to get them interested in sports. A daily meal allowance of $75 is catered for but a contract is usually given to a catering company to provide meals for the participants.

According to Ministry of Sport officials, the programme is supposed to exist in 33 centres and have 60 people at each centre. A stipend is paid to the participants of the programme and an allowance of $30,000 is paid to a coordinator of the programme.

The funding and recipients of LifeSport were identified in an investigative series by the Express newspapers. Following the stories, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar directed Finance Minister Larry Howai to initiate an audit into the programme and transferred it out of Sport to the Ministry of National Security. National Security Minister Gary Griffith said LifeSport will now be directed by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.

For 2014, the Government has already spent just over $267 million on the LifeSport programme.

According to the Draft Estimates of Recurrent Expenditure for the Financial Year 2014, an estimated $113,502,273 was transferred to the LifeSport under the heading Pathway Programme.

The loan for the LifeSport programme was taken by the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Sportt).

Under the heading “Transfers to State Enterprises”, $154,133,000 was transferred to the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Sportt) for “Repayment of TT$77.2 million loan re: Pathway Programme”.

That would take the total sum transferred to LifeSport in 2014 to $267 million.

[Flex]

Life Sport coach talks of quitting.
By STEPHON NICHOLAS (Newsday).

With all the turmoil surrounding the Life Sport programme, one coach yesterday told Sunday Newsday he was considering quitting the programme. Coaches are hired to work at 40 centres for the programme throughout the country.

The programme, conceptualised by Minister of Sport Anil Roberts, has been fraught with controversy for the past six weeks since allegations of corruption and other criminal activities surfaced.

Minister of National Security Gary Griffith was quoted in a report that there were ghosts in the Life Sport with former murder accused and Life Sport Coordinator for Carapo, Rajaee Ali, reaping substantial financial benefits from this scheme.

The programme, which cost taxpayers just $6.6 million in 2012, has expanded significantly in two years, with costs put at an astronomical $113 million in 2014.

The programme has since been stripped from the Ministry of Sport and handed over the Ministry of National Security and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has also ordered an audit.

Since then, though, Ruth Marchan, Deputy Director of Physical Education and Sport, has claimed that there is a plot to kill her after she refused to condone corruption in the Life Sport programme. So afraid was Marchan that she hired a personal bodyguard - Curtis “Tall Man” Gibson. Gibson was brutally gunned down at his Malabar home early Friday morning while sleeping next to his wife.

Yesterday, a Life Sport coach, speaking on condition of strict anonymity, says his view about the programme was beginning to change for the worst.

“Honestly, the programme is a good one. Initially it was a good idea (but) I don’t know what went wrong. I know for a fact it helps plenty young people in my area. A lot of young people lives have been saved but up top I don’t know what’s going on,” the coach said.

The murder of Marchan’s bodyguard seems to have shaken up the coach too as he is considering leaving the programme despite receiving an approximate $6,000 monthly salary.

“You see where people getting killed and thing, I really kind of sceptical of continuing. You pick up the papers and reading how people getting murdered now,” the coach said.

Asked whether he has seen any illicit activities taking place at his centre, the coach denied that any corruption was there but pointed fingers at the East-West corridor.

“We at the ground don’t know much about what going on on top. We centre does run good. The problem is mostly in the East-West corridor. That is the hot spot area,” he said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact Marchan, who said she was ready to flee the country, proved futile yesterday as calls to her cellphone went unanswered.

Marchan had previously said she did not report the alleged threats against her to the police and it is unknown whether she has approached the police for protective custody now that her private security guard was dead.

[weary1969]

Before all this drama I never even heard of this programme.

[AB.Trini]

In today's Newsweek , a representative for the program is appealing to politicians to come and witness the impact of the program in the community of Carapo. While this program may have infused  an economic windfall in this community I beg the question: is this program designed for a specific community? Or for the at risk youths nationally?  What impact or access did youths from a Tobago receive? What other areas benefitted from this program?

It appears to me that we have one set ah voices saying there were benefits and another who taking about the specific alleged corruption / misappropriation of funds and the alleged criminal involvement. Now red flags are all over this program and for me if Weary who living down dey and in the know  and she had not heard of this program before then I now more suspicious of the real intent and am inclined to see this as another oblique political handout to placate and to propagate those in power.
My humble opinion

[Flex]

What is suspicious is that the T&T government or who ever is in charge of dispersing the government funds paying all of this money all the time and it didn't realize it??

If wasn't for the video with Anil on the web this would have still been going on.

Paying 113 million to one organization and no one noticed....

 

The citizen in T&T really need to put they foot down.

From Egypt to Venezuela the government would have been in some hot water. Only in T&T politicians can do what ever they like and walk scratch free.

It make make the news for a month but guarantee nothing comes out of it.

[congo]

I just love the fact that this "bodyguard" has two outstanding warrants out for him but he holding down a ministry wuk normal. TTPS at its finest again. Imagine this man talking about being bodyguard but he get killed in his bed. Couldn't make up this story nah. This whole thing rotten and if the ones at the bottom could be feeding so lavishly just imagine what the ones on top doing. Sighhhh

[Flex]

$200,000 a month to cut grass
LifeSport revealed:
By Asha Javeed (Express).

LifeSport paid companies $200,000 a month to cut grass in the recreation grounds where the programme was held.

Friends of Ministry of Sport officials, soldiers and a journalist were beneficiaries of those LifeSport contracts.
The Ministry of Sport submitted documents to the Ministry of Finance requesting the $200,000 a month “for (3 sports/fields) x 33 venues for 24 months”.

The funding, with 33 centres, would work out to a cost of $6.6 million a month.

It would have cost taxpayers $79.2 million in 2013.

Documents obtained from the Ministry of Sport show that nine companies were contracted to maintain 26 recreation grounds.

Of the nine companies, two companies with a common incorporator—James Dedier—maintain eight recreation grounds.

Those two companies are S.O.S West Indies Limited and Reno Energy Company Limited.

Reno Energy Company Limited, based in Edinburgh 500 in Chaguanas, has the contracts to maintain Carapo Recreation Ground, Morvant Recreation Ground, Point Fortin Recreation Ground and Samaroo Recreation Ground.

S.O.S West Indies Limited, which is based at the same address, has the contract to maintain Mt Dor Recreation Ground, La Horquetta Recreation Ground, Maraval Recreation Ground and Moruga Recreation Ground.

Contacted yesterday on the contracts, Jolene Legere, director at Reno Energy, said: “You have said who you are. I do not know who you are so I can’t speak to you.”

Roamfort Enterprises, based in Balmain, Couva, is owned by a soldier, Andy Berahazar, with another soldier, Anthony Superville, as a director.

 Roamfort was contracted to maintain four grounds—Maloney Recreation Ground, Enterprise Recreation Ground, Carenage Recreation Ground and La Romaine Recreation Ground.

Walter Alibey, a sports reporter at Newsday newspaper, through his company Agro Aggressive Organisation and Maintenance Services Limited, also received a contract from the LifeSport program me.

Alibey was the reporter on the stories about the death threat on the life of  Ruth Marchan, deputy director of Physical Education and Sport at the Ministry of Sport, and the corruption she exposed about how $34 million was paid from LifeSport funds for Math and English lessons to a well-known educator, but no work was done.

Contacted yesterday, Alibey said he started the company since 2011 and has worked for different organizations.

“They called me for the contract and I went for it,” he said.

Questioned on whether it was not a conflict of interest then for his reporting on Marchan’s death threat, he replied: “I didn’t know all this was going to happen. I didn’t foresee all this was happening.”

He said he had a friendship with Marchan for more than 20 years.

The Sunday Express was unable to find one of the nine companies which had a contract for four of the recreation grounds.

The matter is being reviewed by the Central Audit Committee of the Ministry of Finance.

The Sunday Express understands that despite the exorbitant sum paid to companies by LifeSport to maintain the grounds, they were actually being maintained by the regional corporations of the respective areas.

National Security Minister Gary Griffith yesterday said the contracts were the key to unravelling how millions of taxpayers dollars were spent.

“Giving one person tens of thousands of dollars in a brown paper bag with claims of handing it over to invisible  participants because they have no bank account has to be  a sick joke. If that is not a sign of financial mismanagement, questionable activity and incompetence, then I don’t know what is,” said Griffith.

“Jump high, jump low, no desperate PR spin with advisors to ministers openly making adverse statements about me, or paying people to assemble in front of Parliament, or senior officials of the Programme getting a handful of people together to state that there are no ghosts when it is supposed to be over 1,800, but then claim that their life is at risk because of the same Programme that they claimed was so pure, would deter me from cleaning up the Programme.

 “Read my lips—there would be no room for  ghosts, financial mismanagement, or  persons of interest in LifeSport,” he added. 

“I would ensure that no gang leader has access to State funding. I also do not believe in the practice of paying people not to commit crime. If you sleep with the Devil, there is a price to pay, and I have no intention for our citizens to pay that price. This is not a witchhunt. But I am not going to have any criminal acquire State resources and funding to fuel crime.

 “Next stop is URP (Unemployment Relief Programme). If they don’t change their ways and want to continue killing youths to fight for contracts, they would lose it. They can’t have their cake and eat it.”


PARLIAMENT PROTEST: Members of the LifeSport programme on June 27 outside Parliament at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, during their demonstration in support of the programme. —Photo: ANISTO ALVES

[Flex]

Memo for $77 million
T&T Express.

In a memo dated June 12, 2013, the permanent secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Finance wrote to Ministry of Sport PS Ashwin Creed about his request for $77,233,050 to pay off invoices for the mobilisation fee, catering/meals and coordinating services.

The PS in the Ministry of Finance observed that only $971,181 would be paid from its account at First Citizens because there were irregularities with regard to the invoices.

It was noted that:

“1. Differences with respect to the format and layout of invoices tendered by the same contractor which are dated one day apart;

2. Material differences with respect to the quoted amounts and the information on the amended invoices; and

3. Invoices were not certified by the Permanent Secretary.

“Given the above observations, it obviously appears that new invoices were generated for the LifeSport Programme February expenses, when our intent was that you would certify the originals which were returned to you,” the memo stated.

“In addition, with respect to the letters of engagement between each coordinator and the Ministry of Sport, we have observed that a Mr Hugh Grant executed the contracts for the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sport for and on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The Ministry of Finance and the Economy wishes to remind you that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sport is the Ministry’s Accounting Officer and is the appropriate officer for executing such documents,” it said.

“Furthermore, it should be noted that whilst we are unable to approve the payment to coordinators until the contracts are executed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sport, we have observed that there are inconsistencies in the certification of the coordinators’ invoices.

“The Ministry of Finance and the Economy is very concerned about the inconsistencies in invoices submitted for payment, most notably in respect of the fact that new invoices are being generated in lieu of our request for the original invoices to be appropriately certified,” it said. Creed is out of the country until July 31.

[AB.Trini]

See what the police in Calgary Alberta is doing as an initiative: it eh look like they paying out no money to join the program-
Police launch anti-gang initiative for at-risk youth
 

CALGARY HERALD July 08th 2014
 
 
City police have launched a new anti-gang initiative for at-risk youth and parents trying to seek help.

Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention or GRIP was developed by the Guns and Gangs Unit and the Community and Youth Services Section, and aims to raise awareness, provide resources and garner tips about gang activity.

This new initiative replaces the previous Get A Life anti-gang program.

“Gangs are very much a part of the larger world of organized crime,” police said in a news release. “They are regularly involved in a wide array of criminal activity ranging from theft and fraud to drug trafficking and murder.”

Police say it can be hard to get out of gang life as there’s often pressure and intimidation to stay.

The police service currently has several programs for youth at risk of joining a gang, including the Stay Smart Stay Safe and the Youth At Risk Development Program.

More information on the new initiative, as well as the current programs, can be found online at www.cpsgrip.com.

Members of the public who want to contact gang investigators can  send an email to CPSGrip@calgarypolice

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
 
 
 SEE- http://cpsgrip.com

 

[ZANDOLIE]

This is a joke right? Creed allowing millions in irregularities to be transferred  to this agency by somebody name 'Hugh Grant'? And basically abdicating his post in the process? Someone please tell me this is a joke. The sportz minister beating coke and hoes is one thing. But to have this kind of toxic wastepile fester under his watch is quite another. Anil's brainchild my ass. This one has Jack Warner written all over it.

[Flex]

Creed denies wife got Life Sport contract.
T&T Newsday Reports.

ASHWIN CREED, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, yesterday denied that his wife or any member of his family had received contracts in the controversial Life Sport programme.

His denial was contained in a letter read into the record of Hansard on the instruction of Senate President Timothy Hamel-Smith.

The letter was written by a lawyer representing Creed, and dealt with allegations that Creed’s family had benefitted from contracts in the programme.

PNM Senator Faris Al-Rawi had stated in the Senate that he had been “advised” that Creed’s wife had received a $6.75 million contract.

“Mr Vice-President, I am putting this on the record and I want the Members of this Senate to listen,” Al-Rawi said on July 1 in the chamber during debate of a budget supplementation bill. “I am advised that the catering contract amounting to $6.75 million that the beneficiary of that contract, I am advised, is the wife of the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Sport.” He said $75 was being spent for a lunch.

The Senate President, under practices which are invoked whenever a member of the public would like to have their side of the story recorded, said he had received a request for correspondence to be read into Hansard and had approved it.

At the start of the Senate sitting, Hamel-Smith asked a clerk to read the letter, which had been addressed to him. The letter was penned on Creed’s behalf by attorney Ravi Rajcoomar, of the Port-of-Spain-based Invictus Chambers.

“Permit me to advise on an issue that has arisen in Parliament and in which matter I am instructed by Ashwin Creed, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sport,” Rajcoomar said. The attorney noted the press had reported on Al-Rawi’s contribution, and had, “set out an argument by the honourable Senator Faris Al-Rawi in his contribution to the Senate that my client’s wife is the recipient of a contract from Life Sport programme.”

Rajcoomar stated, “I am instructed that this argument is entirely false. My client’s wife and, in fact, no member of my client’s family are the recipients of any contracts of any form or type under the Life Sport programme. Therefore, I ask that this letter, and my client’s denial, be read into Hansard.”

Minister of Finance, Larry Howai, did not immediately respond to queries yesterday over the status of a ministry audit of the programme. The audit was due to be completed last week but its completion was reportedly postponed by one week in light of further unspecified developments.

[Flex]

Roberts: If Life Sport shows wrongdoing by my ministry I will resign forthwith
By Shaliza Hassanali (Guardian).

Sport Minister Anil Roberts says he will resign from the People’s Partnership Government forthwith if the audit into the controversial Life Sport programme shows that his ministry has been funding terrorists, criminal gangs, a militia and a sprawling palace. On Friday, Roberts finally broke his silence on the programme, which Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has sought to link to the murder of prominent attorney Dana Seetahal.
 
In May, the programme came under scrutiny after it was reported that a Carapo-based Jamaat-Al-Muslimeen was controlling the mammoth share of the Ministry of Sport’s $113 million spent on the Life Sport programme, which the Ministry of Finance had found to be riddled with irregularities. The co-ordinator of the programme is Rajaee Ali (otherwise known as R Ali), son of the north-west leader of the Jamaat, Imam Hassan Ali.
 
It was reported that R Ali was detained by police for gang-related activities following the murder of Seetahal in May. Ten weeks after the issue raised its ugly head, Roberts, in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Guardian on Friday at his Port-of-Spain office, said while some people may interpret his silence as indicating fear or guilt, he did not want to speak out until an audit into the programme, requested by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was done.
 
In June, Persad-Bissessar had said the results of the audit would determine the future of the programme and whether any action would be taken against Roberts.
 
End of political career

Roberts said: “If it is proven that a programme I conceptualised to help poor black people is funding terrorists, criminal gangs, and an armed militia of 250 men in a palace in Carapo...a huge compound from which they can train, operate and terrorise the people of Trinidad and Tobago, I will resign forthwith.”
 
He said if the audit showed “that the programme was giving money to a terrorist organisation to the tune of $1.5 to $3 million monthly,  had 1,400 ghost names with aliases such as Michal Jackson, Madonna, Beyonce and Kanye West, spent $8 million on a sports day for bandits, robbers and crooks, as soon as that audit comes out, the Prime Minister will not have to call me. I will write my resignation immediately. If that happened under my watch, I do not deserve to sit in this chair and be the Minister of Sport in Trinidad and Tobago.
 
That will be the end of my political career.” Last month, Diego Martin North East MP Colm Imbert said in the House of Representatives that an armed militia of about 250 men was being cultivated and funded through the corrupt administration of the Life Sport programme.
 
However, Roberts said, if the audit gave his ministry the all clear “many people may have a lot of apologising to do...some other people may have to resign too. Let the chips fall where they may because some serious decisions across the board will have to be taken.” He also warned that he stayed quiet because of his discipline, but when the contents of the audit is revealed “Anil now start to talk.”
 
Despite Cabinet’s approval for Roberts to attend a meeting at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow today, he opted to stay put because “I heard the audit is soon to come out.” The 2013 auditor general’s report, Roberts said, showed that his ministry had operated above board. “You would always have people who would try a skull. The job of the auditors is to pick up that and deal with it. If someone is found to be corrupt the police will investigate and lock up whoever did it.”
 
Roberts said that as for the daily management issues at his ministry, involving procurements, issuing of contracts and signing of cheques, “I have no control over that. This is managed by responsible employees. If it shows otherwise they will be dealt with.” Roberts believes the PNM was trying to tarnish his name and ministry in order to reclaim the D’Abadie/O’Meara seat, which the PP Government won in 2010.
 
“All the PNM sees is politics. They are so narcissistic. They want to get into power. The PNM wants to rewrite the Constitution and decide who are criminals.”
 
Country’s reputation at stake

Roberts said the allegations levied against the programme and ministry by Rowley, Imbert and PNM Senator Faris Al-Rawi were  not only grave and serious, but had far-reaching implications for T&T, as well as international implications. “It is something that has impacted on the country’s reputation domestically and outside.”
 
Asked about issues raised by National Security Minister Gary Griffith, who stated that the programme was funding ghost participants and approximately $90,000 in cash was put into paper bags and given to one person to distribute to 60 Life Sport participants, Roberts said, “Well he would have to talk for himself. I cannot speak for him. May God bless him.” Roberts said he met R Ali, who is co-ordinator of the Carapo centre, but did not know him or his father personally.
 
“I have met all 40 co-ordinators of the programme as minister.” He did not deny that “most of the participants” in the programme had criminal records. “The minister does not hand-pick anyone. Many of them would have been dead had it not been for Life Sport.” He said the programme was created to positively reshape the lives of “at risk men” who were going down the wrong path.
 
Daily, Roberts said, people would tell him “to leave those young black boys to kill one another, if they want to be bad. But I came here to help those most in need and offer my assistance.”
 
Roberts said no amount of guns, jail, bullets and batons could solve the country’s crime problem since the issue needed a different approach and one where those participants could feel appreciated, accepted and trusted. Questioned about the ministry’s deputy director of Physical Education and Sport Ruth Marchan who claimed her life was threatened, Roberts said, “anyone who is being threatened is a serious thing...they should go to the police. Let the police handle it. Other than that, Hollywood makes lots of movies.”
 
Life Sport stained for life

With all said and done, Roberts said, Life Sport was now stained for life—a stain that would be hard to remove or cleanse. “If Life Sport is stained we will come up with something else. But those who stained it, would they be men or women enough to say they were wrong and apologise? I don’t think so.” The PNM, Roberts said, has historically “been a curse on black people in Trinidad and Tobago” with their policies.
 
“The PNM hates black people. I was born a PNM. Their policies have ensured that black young men remain the highest risk [population] in society.” Of the 2,097 participants in the programme, Roberts said, “at least 98.8 per cent are Africans, with the other 1.2 per cent being dougla and Indians.” He said, “That is frightening for Rowley because they depend on black people staying poor and impoverished and beholden to the great czar of the PNM.”
 
He said the PP Government would not keep people in starvation and begging for handouts.
 
Pulled in by PM

Roberts said media reports of R Ali collecting about $1.5 million a month in profit and raking in about $18 million in the last year was what had prompted the PM to call for an audit. “As soon as this allegation was made, wherever they came from, I was called in by the Prime Minister.” Roberts said he explained his side of the story to Persad-Bissessar. “I told her I don’t know anything about that.”
 
Roberts said after the PM had listened to him, “her exact words to me were ‘these are grave allegations and it must be investigated’.” He said he agreed wholeheartedly with the PM, who informed him that she would shift the programme to the National Security Ministry “where it was intended to go anyway because of its anti-crime initiative. I was in full agreement.”
 
Shandell—a tower of strength

“Unadulterated mayhem.” That’s how Roberts described those last ten weeks of his life after the Life Sport programme was put under the microscope and attacked from all sides. In the last 70 days, Roberts said, he was under “absolute stress” due to the daily onslaught at the hands of the PNM and the media. “I thought about my young, beautiful, pregnant wife and the pressures and tension she had to be going through. She is now 23 weeks pregnant. For the last ten weeks she had to be going through stress, which she didn’t ask for.”
 
Last December, Roberts married Shandell, 22. “Yes, she knows she married a politician, but for a young mother to be going through those critical weeks, from 13 to 23 weeks of her pregnancy with all that unnecessary stress and worry, I must say she is a tower of strength. She handled it brilliantly.” Luckily, Roberts said, both mother and baby were in good health. Roberts said even his deceased mother was unfairly targeted.
 
He said social media was the most dangerous invention known to man, as cowards hid behind computers to assassinate his character and spew their unsubstantiated garbage.

Howai to get report this week

Contacted on Friday, Cheryl Lala, strategic communications adviser to the Finance Minister, said the audit into the Life Sport was in its final stages of preparation. “It is being reviewed by the CAU before being presented to the Minister of Finance.”  She did not say, however, when it will be presented to the minister. The Sunday Guardian understands that Howai is expected to receive the report early this week.

[weary1969]

I sure he has his is not me letter ready just to date to submit.

[Tiresais]

It's okay, when "no third party" comes forward to confirm the news story, and Anil asks Kamela nicely, he'll be let off

[Flex]

PM to lay LifeSport audit in Parliament today
By Asha Javeed (Express).

A CASE FOR DPP

The audit into the LifeSport programme has unearthed enough evidence to warrant a probe by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The Express understands seve­ral senior officials from the Ministry of Sport have been identified in the report for misuse of public funds, misbehaviour in public office and con-spiracy to defraud the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago.

The audit was completed without an interview with Ruth Marchan, the deputy director of Physical Education and Sport at the Ministry of Sport, even though one was requested by the audit committee.

Marchan, who had claimed there was a threat on her life, is under police protection after her bodyguard, Curtis “Tallman” Gibson, was murdered on June 26.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will table the report by the Central Audit Committee into the LifeSport Programme in Parliament today, following which it will be forwarded to the DPP.

Persad-Bissessar said the decision to lay the report in Parliament was in keeping with transparency and accountability to the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

A statement issued yesterday by the Office of the Prime Minister stated the Prime Minister has noted the continued public attention and commentary regarding the LifeSport Programme.

“It should be recalled that within days of reports of possible irregularities in the programme published in the media, the Prime Minister took steps to move the programme from the Ministry of Sport to the Ministry of National Security, and instructed the Ministry of Finance to conduct a full audit into the programme. This audit has been completed and the Prime Minister has received the report,” it said.

The Express understands the report was forwarded to her by Finance Minister Larry Howai on Tuesday.

Sport Minister Anil Roberts has been reported by the Guardian as saying he would resign if it is pro­ven the programme which he conceptualised “to help poor black people is funding terrorists, criminal gangs and an armed militia of 250 men in a palace in Carapo...”.

LifeSport pays $1,500 a month to “criminal elements” to get them interested in sports. A daily meal allowance of $75 is catered for, but a contract is usually given to a catering company to provide meals for the participants.

The funding and recipients ofLifeSport were identified in an inves­tigative series by the Express into the funding to the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen. Following the stories, Persad-Bissessar directed Howai to initiate an audit into the programme and transferred it out of the Sport Ministry to the Ministry of National Security.

The programme has been riddled with financial irregularities since its inception.

LifeSport, which was funded through Government loans, has cost taxpayers some $400 milli­on. For 2014, the Government allocated just over $267 million. A further $33 million was approved in the Supplementation of the Appropriation for Fiscal Year 2014.

The Sunday Express has repor­ted on the interlocking directorships of several companies which received multiple LifeSport contracts, how the programme paid close to $200,000 a month to cut grass in LifeSport centres, and all contractors of the programme were hand-picked friends of Ministry of Sport officials, soldiers and a Newsday journalist, Walter Alibey.

National Security Minister Gary Griffith has said LifeSport will now be directed by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.

Pastor contradicts Anil

Last week, the Sunday Express reported the LifeSport programme has not granted scholarships to 25 members of the programme, which was contrary to statements made by Sport Minister Anil Roberts in Parliament on June 27.

Pastor Andrew Seaton, president of the Christian Victory Academy in New York, USA, has said 25 individ­uals from the controversial programme have not been granted visas or scholarships or are even currently enrolled at the academy.

And further, the pupils were not even part of the LifeSport programme but are all enrolled in sec­on­dary schools in Trinidad and Tobago.

[royal]

Life Sport has been terminated. What a frigging mess !!!

[mukumsplau]

audit document

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9yq90ReLhfeVUNPa0NFbVdUamc/view?sle=true

[Bakes]

This is what needs to be done with the 2006 WC money inquiry.

[Peong]

Thanks for the pdf.

[Flex]

PM ends programme; audit uncovers fraud, criminal supervisors, multi-million-dollar payments for no work
By Ria Taitt Political Editor (Express).

LIFESPORT BURIED

LifeSport, the brainchild and baby of Sport Minister Anil Roberts, has been laid to rest.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday announced the “immediate” termination of the controversial programme, following the tabling of the “Report of the Central Audit Committee on the Comprehensive Audit of the Payment System

of the LifeSport Programme” in the House of Representatives, at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, yesterday.

What the Prime Minister did not address was whether Minister Roberts can still find a place in her Cabinet,in the face of the damning findings.

As she disclosed some of the findings, she expressed her own “shock”, “deep, personal disappointment and dismay that a programme that was intended to save lives, to build lives, was used by a group of people for fraud and personal gain”.

The same sense of shame was mirrored on the faces of those on the Government benches. The Sport Min­is­ter, on the contrary, wore an expression of feigned bravado. His colleague, National Security Minister Gary Griffith, who had so often spoken critically about the LifeSport programme, had an air of vindication. For the People’s National Movement (PNM) MPs, their faces reflected it was a case of deju vu.

The report will be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the acting Commissioner of Police (CoP), the Integrity Commission and the head of the Public Service.

Noting the Audit Committee raised questions regarding possible complicity by officers of the minis­­try, given the widespread nature of the breaches, the Prime Minister said: “What is most shocking and disappointing is the fact that given the usually stringent nature of the bureau­cratic processes in obtaining approvals for projects, implementing programmes and monitoring progress, no action was taken to halt or prevent what the Audit Committee found.”

The Prime Minister bemoaned the fact that a group of people derailed the good intentions of the pro­gramme, giving their support to criminality, in some cases, rather than to the country’s young people. “For those who really sought to improve their lives and positively benefit from this programme, I am sorry that this had to happen,” Persad-Bissessar stated.

Because of the actions of a few, this programme will have to be halted,” she said. “However, do not des­pair .... But through other working programmes, we will reach out to our vulnerable. We will look to ways to assist vulnerable persons through other programmes, and new ones if necessary,” she said.

“We will reach you (the youth), we will help you and we will provide the opportunities you need to build your lives,” she added.

The Prime Minister assured the population as Government moved forward implementing social programmes, it would not tolerate wrong-doing, corruption and the abuse of programmes, “meant to save our people, for selfish, personal gains”.

The Prime Minister said she had instructed the Attorney General to turn the report over to the DPP and CoP “to investigate, detain and prosecute those guilty to the fullest extent of the law”.

She added that given the fact the Central Audit Committee raised the possibility of complicity of ministry officials, the report would also be referred to the Integrity Commission [which at the moment is non-functional] and the head of the Public Service “for further investigation, consideration and action”.

“Any person and any group who seeks to subvert the law and the public benefit would pay the full price of the law!” the Prime Minister declared.

The Prime Minister recalled the LifeSport programme was “conceptualised and formulated as part of a comprehensive programme to try to roll back the tide against criminals and criminality in our country. It was specifically focused on saving the lives of young men (between the ages of 16 and 25) who needed to be protected from the criminals who routinely preyed on them, and (the programme was meant instead) to help shape positive futures for these young people”.

The Prime Minister said the one important message coming out of the audit report was the urgent need for procurement laws to become fully operationalised. The procurement bill is currently before the House of Representatives. She said this issue drives home the point of how important procurement laws are to each and every person, family and community in the country.

The Prime Minister stressed while her Government would continue to champion the new procurement regime, the country can rest assured she had stood firm on the principle that progress must be underlined by integrity and benefit for the population.

LifeSport was launched in June 2012 and started in August 2012.

The Prime Minister said  the report revealed a number of discrepancies which included:

1. There were widespread breaches of proper procurement practices

2. The approval given by Cabinet was not strictly adhered to

3. Persons at the co-ordinating level may have been involved in criminal activity

4. There were several instances of fraudulent activity by suppliers to the programme

5. There may have been widespread theft of equipment from the programme

6. There may have been breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act

7. Exorbitant and questionable payments were made in several instances

8. There was poor control and monitoring of the Programme by the Ministry of Sport.

[AB.Trini]

Another malady miscarriage of justice ineptitude by our leaders.  Yuh go have thief to investigate thief? Yuh eh see before this findings come out man challenging others to find a direct line with him as a wrong doer,,,,,,, that alone should ah tell we  thief covering fuh thief.
This man only defence is that the PNM want him down- is like ah lover who get a rejection and he cyar get over the hurt- or he get ah horn from PNM and he cyar get over it-
Sadly to say another  one to add to the list of high class scandal corruption and incompetence.  I had to laugh when I read the news we- imagine another leader of a political party want to present evidence to show alleged overspending and misappropriation of funds to alleged bogus companies- this is the same leader that was embroiled in numerous alleged scandals involving misappropriation of funds again ironically associated with  a major " sporting"  program- talk about. POT Calling the KETTLE black!!!!!!!!!

[Flex]

Educator paid by LifeSport for no work...
By by Asha Javeed (Express).

$34m Man

He was paid $34 million from LifeSport but did no work.

But Adolphus Daniell, the owner of Daniell’s Educational Institute, has no intention of returning the money he was paid from the program me.

“The thing about it is, it is a non-issue because the only way under a contract anything is recoverable is if the other party is in default. There was never a single letter of complaint that I was in default of this contract. Not even a phone call,” he said.

Daniell, through his company EBeam Interact Ltd, was solely selec­­­ted to provide mathematics, English and technology lessons to the participants of LifeSport in 2012.

LifeSport was started in August 2012.

Daniell’s contact to provide les­sons for the programme was from Decem­ber 6, 2012, with a projected com­pletion date of September 30, 2014.

“Central Audit was informed that EBeam was sole selected mainly because of the company’s president/CEO Mr Adolphus Daniell’s track record as an educator, with respect to individuals who have struggled aca­demically,” the audit into the Life­Sport programme revealed.

The audit was tabled in Parliament by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and has been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the acting Commissioner of Police, the Integrity Commission and the head of the Public Service.

The audit uncovered the pro­gramme was riddled with financial irregularities, had co-ordinators with criminal backgrounds, massive fraud, millions misspent, ghost centres, ghost participants, improper procurement and theft.

Daniell’s $34 million payment was the single biggest payment of the programme for no work.

EBeam was paid two tranches of $17 million. The first tranche rep­resented 50 per cent of the fee on September 2, 2013. The second pay­ment was done on February 11, 2014

“Ms Dawn Mohan, current cor­porate secretary of SporTT, however stated that since the numeracy and literacy component (N&LC) had not started by EBeam, for which it was contracted, legal advice on whether to pay EBeam the second payment as per the terms of the contract was sought. Two pieces of legal advice were received, one from Ms Lisa Solomon, the then head of Legal of SporTT, and the other from JD Sellier & Company. The opinion from JD Selli­er suggested that measures, including arbitration, be explored to avoid having to make the payments,” the audit noted.

But Daniell yesterday explained it was he who found the auditors (the Central Audit Committee) and pre­sented himself to be interviewed for the audit.

Daniell, who said he had worked at LifeSport for free for several months, said he went to the Central Audit Committee because he felt a major player in the LifeSport corrup­tion scandal was steering the story in a different way.

“Had I not gone there and really put a brake on the story, the story would have been completely different because I was being set up, sadly, to take the fall,” he told the Sunday Express in a telephone interview.
Asked to elaborate, he responded: “Anyone with a modicum of common sense would know that the crook always points in the other direction,” he said.

He said the conflicting stories put out on his contract about money being divided up, his being on the run and being kept safe by a criminal underworld forced him to go to the Central Audit Committee to share his documents.

“When you look at the story, it wasn’t that a contract was forged in the middle of the night, OK?”
He said officials of the SporTT company would have “considered all the angles of the legal advice”.

Questioned on why he did not fulfil his part of the contract, Daniell explained the ministry did not pro­vide the necessary infrastructure, which was part of its contract for him to execute his services.

“I lay out a particular type of approach. It does not make sense to do a chalk and talk, a whiteboard scenario. I mapped out all the things.

But it is necessary that these are the things which need to be done and I sent the document, first and foremost, on what are the conditions which must exist and if those conditions don’t exist, I don’t want to be part of any­thing at the time,” he said.

When the Sunday Express pointed out he still accepted payment, he ex­plained he was not the party in default in the contract.

He said at no time did the SporTT company send a letter of complaint ques­tioning why the work was not implemented.

Instead, he has a bundle of docu­ments which he sent to them reques­ting they fix the centres to begin the classes.

“I was the individual who saved the LifeSport programme from being closed down in 2013. It had nothing to do with my contract,” he said, explaining he was the one who got the ministry’s team to get the commu­nity centers.

He said he would choose the appro­priate time to release more information on his LifeSport contract.

“I want nothing materially. There is nothing they can do for me that I want. I can walk into the major uni­versities and be welcomed. For the people of this country, and a country that is in decay, you cannot allow people to tarnish perception of an indi­vidual who has served, continues to serve and who people look up to. One has a responsibility to address that and that is the only reason I am addressing it,” he said.

But he warned: “Anytime I come out, it’s timing. If I wait until two months before the election, it’s timing.
I have a lot of time. It will shake this place like an earthquake, OK?”

Central Audit was informed SporTT is currently awaiting legal advice from Senior State Counsel Russell Martineau on a way forward or what actions,if any, can be taken against EBeam.

“It is obvious that SporTT was a party to this contract, mainly because the contract was above the authorised limit of the permanent secretary, MoS (Ministry of Sport). It is evident that the ‘mind and management’ of this contract has always been and continues to be the Ministry of Sport...” the audit stated.

[Flex]

Price condemns ‘sloppy’ Life Sport audit
By SHALIZA HASSANALI (Guardian).

Life Sport programme director Cornelius Price has condemned the manner in which the auditors undertook their investigations into the controversial programme. Price yesterday said they failed to do their job thoroughly. The audit was done by the Ministry of Finance’s Central Audit Unit (CAU). In the 53-page audit, Price’s name came up several times, mainly for the criteria he used in selecting companies and the exorbitant prices paid to suppliers.

The report stated that Price was unable to provide adequate answers to the issues raised. Yesterday, a fuming Price said he did nothing wrong and was not to blame for the Life Sport fiasco. He said the auditors did not carry out the audit properly, which put Life Sport in a bad light. “The auditors, in my view, never checked certain things. I find the audit did not pay much attention to checking files.

You compiled files for them and they never checked it.” He said the auditors did not look at certain files, which he found strange. “Some of the procurement processes were outlined in the files.” Price said Life Sport was asked by the auditors for certain documents, which were supplied to them but “I don’t think they read it.”

Computers accounted for

In one instance, Price said, the auditors refused to see certain files. Price said last Friday, a package was sent to the CAU for their perusal, but he later found out that it was too late since the report was being finalised. “They say they did not get certain documents. Well, all right.” Price said he had written statements from co-ordinators who stated that the auditors queried the location of certain “boys” at certain centres, and upon receiving the information, never checked.

Price said he was interviewed by the auditors twice. Price said the auditors highlighted in the report that 200 laptop computers which cost Life Sport $998,500 were not physically located at the centres visited. However, the auditors stated that enquiries from Theodore Charles, assistant programme director, revealed that only 70 laptops were accounted for. Price said as far as he knows “all the laptops are accounted for. I don’t know what the auditors looked for. They did not check nothing. That was a pattern. They start off badly.”

‘I never encouraged anything’

He said normally the auditors would visit the ministry and talk to the permanent secretary and they would compile files and hand over documents. “In this instance, the auditors went straight to the Sport Company for information.” Price also took issue with the report, which recommended that the relevant unit of the Ministry of National Security conduct an investigation on the programme’s 43 coordinators.

“You cannot make a blanket statement. You are saying that all of them are criminals. That is madness.” He felt that the auditors could have observed all the centres and co-ordinators over a period of time, than draw their own conclusions. Tomorrow, Price said, he would hold a press conference at the Ministry of Sport to clear the air on matters that fell under his portfolio. In March, Price was appointed the programme’s director. “I wasn’t involved in certain things directly.

I could only deal with matters relating to me. When I came in I tried to put things in place. As a manager you have to make decisions on the spot. I never encouraged anything. Let the auditors go and deal with their foolishness that I encouraged things. That is foolishness.” He said any invoices that came to him would have been verified. “There are one or two things that may have slipped through. When I came into the system I saw an arrangement...that is something I was accustomed seeing.

So when I became director there was no reason to stop those payments because I saw them coming in all the time. However, there were several other payments that were stopped about two or three months ago for different areas because I became suspicious. When I checked there was nothing. I was being harassed about it.”

Missing files Price said the bills had to do with the rental of tents at Bagatelle, Barataria, Carapo, Sangre Grande and Valencia. He admitted that files had gone missing from Life Sport. “There are a lot of files that go missing sometimes. You cannot find it.” Price said the only bills he did not sign for were those for janitorial services, “until recently” when his signature was required. Those bills were previously signed off by the project unit for matters in that area.

Asked if he was scared that the PM had sent the report to the Director of Public Prosecutions and Commissioner of Police, Price said, “There is nothing to be scared about. I have not done anything wrong.” Is the audit an indictment of him? Price said, “I don’t know about any indictment of me. If you look at the report you would see things as far back as 2013.

What happened before (my time) is not my business.” The burying of Life Sport, Price said, was not the end of the world. “It finish, it finish. I wasn’t born in Life Sport. It was a good programme but it had issues.” Price said even though the programme had been scrapped, he would not be out of a job since he had other things to fall back on.