Jonathan Ramnanansingh
KISWAH Chaitoo haslost his allure against the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board’s (TTCB) January 10 stream of no self assurance moved against him, which resulted in hisremoval as treasurer on February 28 .
A 50-page judgment issued by the seven-member Supreme Appellate Committee (SAC) on December 9 came all over Chaitoo in “flagrant breach” of Article 27 of TTCB’s constitution, which says, “The proceedings of all documents and all conferences of the manager and of the board will likely be confidential and no longer be disclosed to unauthorised people.”
Finally, Chaitoo’s resolution to half interior records with the police earlier than the TTCB performed its interior investigations, at the side of his “breaching his obligation of confidentiality” by offering records from an executive meeting to this newspaper on January 14, had been the central reasons given by the SAC which it deemed “ample to ground a stream of no self assurance.”
The SAC said the TTCB may per chance not be faulted for pursuing the vote of no self assurance, since it used to be “entitled to tackle its bask in disciplinary regime, acted rather within the total circumstances in formulating and passing the stream of no self assurance in Chaitoo.”
The SAC comprised Justice Prakash Moosai (chairman), Samuel Saunders (deputy chairman) and people Rennie Gosine, Kent Ghisawan, Norris Ferguson, Patsy Joseph and Ammar Samaroo.
Chaitoo used to be elected TTCB treasurer, at the side of assorted people of the manager, on October 30, 2021.
His elimination followed Chaito’s discovering “an unreconciled quantity of some $51,000” in TTCB’s books in August 2022. For the following one year, he used to be unsuccessful in having the disclose addressed by a TTCB employee, in particular for the length/quarter August-October 2022.
From August 2022-August 2023, Chaitoo did his bask the truth is-discovering mission and outdated external auditors to procure a clearer working out of TTCB’s financials for that length. This resulted in an employee’s resigning in October 2023 and reportedly admitting guilt of “utilizing cheques assigned for TTCB notify for my private charges.”
She said her actions spanned five years at an approximate fee between $200,000 and $300,000, and that she would pay it motivate “over a length of time agreed to.”
Chaitoo reported the missing money to the TTCB’s accountants’ ethics committee, nevertheless also said on memoir of he used to be an authorized accountant, he had a responsibility to account the topic to the police. Nonetheless, earlier than doing so, he would account motivate to the manager.
In November 2023, at an executive retreat in Tobago, Chaitoo “used to be in possession of 153 cheques totalling some $548,000 which he instructed police used to be the approximate sum misappropriated by an employee.”
On the board’s December 2023 AGM, Chaitoo instructed the unparalleled membership he had reported the topic to police (Fraud Squad), “of larceny by an employee,” without the manager having prior records of the account.
TTCB president Azim Bassarath, in an e-mail to Chaitoo in December, deemed his resolution to account the topic to the police, in preference to letting the board’s interior investigation flee its direction, “quite regrettable and unbecoming of an executive member,” pronouncing his actions had been “no longer within the exact passion of the board.”
On January 13, 2024, at an executive meeting, nine of the ten people (instead of Chaitoo) expressed a loss of self assurance within the treasurer.
For the following 11 days, two day-to-day newspapers revealed detailed reports on missing TTCB money, which integrated explain quotes from Chaitoo. The board requested Chaitoo to help a special unparalleled meeting to present the clarification why he disclosed confidential records to the media.
In a January 26 letter to the TTCB, the board said Chaitoo said he may per chance be taking his complaints “steady now to the people of the public,” a clear violation of Article 27.
Chaitoo also e-mailed to reveal his conduct used to be consistent with his tasks as treasurer and the manager “did not bear energy to inquire of him.” Chaitoo used to be reminded of Article 27 of the constitution, by board secretary Altaf Baksh.
In February, the SAC said, “The board bought a requisition signed by 16 of its people for a special unparalleled meeting of TTCB to focus on and approve a stream of no self assurance within the treasurer.”
Baksh instructed people of this requisition to stream the stream and scheduled a special unparalleled meeting for February 28, at which bigger than the 2-thirds majority required to stream the stream voted against Chaitoo.
By his excellent crew of Dinesh Rambally and Stefan Ramkissoon, Chaitoo appealed the resolution and the topic used to be introduced to the SAC.
The SAC ruling said, “Due to this of the actions of Mr Chaitoo, the TTCB has suffered grave reputational injury and a loss of sponsorship, whereas Chaitoo did not develop his tasks as outlined in article 5.03 (iv) of the TTCB constitution…and that its people create particular their loss of self assurance” in him as treasurer.
The allure hearing began on Would possibly per chance 7, nevertheless used to be adjourned to enable the cricket board’s attorneys to file additional written submissions to the committee, in response to Chaitoo’s.
Newsday tried to contact TTCB’s attorneys Navindra Ramnanan and Henry Skedaddle for a statement, nevertheless used to be unsuccessful. Similarly, Chaitoo did not reply to WhatsApp messages.
