FORMER FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has been summoned to appear in court on Tuesday to give an accurate and detailed account of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) finances.
And in addition, TTFF president Oliver Camps is facing an application to be held in contempt of court for allegedly submitting false accounts to Justice Devindra Rampersad in the High Court.
Despite winning a drawn-out battle with the TTFF last year over payment of bonuses for the 2006 World Cup, the players are yet to receive their money due to disagreement with the audited TTFF books.
Speaking to Newsday yesterday, British attorney Mike Townley, representing 13 members of the 2006 “Soca Warriors” team, explained that there has been some difficulty in determining the revenue of the local football body which has delayed the disbursement of their money.
“What the players are trying to do is determine the income from the 2006 campaign, but they (TTFF) never wished to disclose it,” he said.
“We made an application last year for the courts to disclose the accounts. In advance of that hearing, the TTFF in December submitted their accounts audited by the internationally renowned KPMG.
“I went through the accounts and found it to be rubbish and completely inaccurate. It showed for the period 2005 to 2007 the amount to be $25 million and we knew there was more. We know the government invested $200 million so the books only showed a small portion,” Townley declared.
Following this, the judge ordered the TTFF to submit a specific audit which Camps did in June earlier this year. Townley argued, however, that this account was a mere rehash of the one which was rejected by the players in 2006.
The players then filed an application for Camps to be held in contempt of court and fined and or sent to prison for submitting a false account even though he had sworn to an affidavit. In response to the application, however, Camps allegedly made a u-turn and told the court he was oblivious to the exact figures and his former Special Advisor Warner was in charge of these matters and is in possession of his organisation’s books.
“We then made an application for Warner to be made the third defendant after the TTFF and Camps and that he be ordered to deliver the account and an affidavit swearing it to be true,” Townley revealed.
The players have received an interim payment of $7.5 million but Townley believes the full figure to be significantly higher.
He says that although five years have passed since TT played in the World Cup in Germany and the wheels of justice appear to be moving slow, the players are persisting with the matter and will not stop pursuing it until they receive their due amount.
He concluded that the case could have other ramifications as not only their payments are concerned but taxpayers money as well.
“When we are searching for the accounts, we are only interested in the money due to the players but if we find tremendous lack of accountability...If that $200 million from the government doesn’t show up then that means the public scandal is two-fold,” he argued.
-Stephon Nicholas
www.newsday.co.tt