INDEPENDENT Liberal Party (ILP) chairman and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner yesterday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar urging her to fire Sports Minister Anil Roberts from the Cabinet, over findings in the Finance Ministry’s Life Sport Programme audit.
But in an immediate reaction, Roberts suggested Warner was in no position to point fingers, due to what Roberts claimed were “certain dubious actions” by Warner when he was a government minister.
Warner in his letter to the PM, said the audit had found that “Life Sport” was plagued by procurement breaches, a deviation from Cabinet’s mandate, involvement of some persons in criminal activities, fraud by suppliers, theft of equipment, breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act, and poor control and monitoring by the line Ministry.
Warner explained that good governance and the traditions of Westminster demand that where such mismanagement/corruption occurs, the relevant minister must resign or have his appointment revoked by the Prime Minister.
He cited sections of the 2010 People’s Partnership (PP) Manifesto as grounds in which Roberts should be sacked in keeping with Government’s promised, “greater transparency and accountability.”
Warner said it was the PM’s duty to maintain the image and reputation of the Government and country locally, regionally and internationally. But contacted for a response, Roberts asked who was Warner to make such demands.
“Tell Jack Warner to worry about a letter he wrote on a Ministry of Works and Infrastructure letterhead regarding money by contractors. Tell him to worry about that and read the Integrity in Public Life Act. Other than that, I have nothing to respond to Jack Warner,” Roberts said.
Meanwhile, the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce yesterday said it supports Government’s action over the Life Sport Programme but urges more to be done by way of passing the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Bill.
In a statement yesterday the Chamber commended Persad-Bissessar for ending the programme and sending the Ministry of Finance’s audit of Life Sport to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Commissioner of Police (CoP).
But the Chamber lamented the many discrepancies identified in the report, including poor control by the Ministry of Sports; cases of fraud by suppliers and possible breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The Chamber backed the Prime Minister’s view that this Report underscored the urgent need for procurement laws to become fully operationalised, and recalled that as part of the Private Sector Civil Society Group (PSCSG), they had made this same call to the Prime Minister in an advertisement published on July 25.
The Chamber vowed to continue to monitor this issue and, as with the wider national community, awaits the outcome of the investigations.
RELATED NEWS
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.
Read the full report here: http://tinyurl.com/LifeSportAudit.
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.
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.
$34m for no work in LifeSport, Howai: Sport Minister brought Daniell to Ministry of Finance
By Asha Javeed (Express).
IT WAS ANIL
Finance Minister Larry Howai says it was Sports Minister Anil Roberts who brought Adolphus Daniell, the educator who was paid $34 million from the LifeSport programme for no work, to his ministry.
“Mr Daniell was brought by Minister Roberts and officers of the Ministry of Sport to meet with the Ministry of Finance to demonstrate how the programme would work. After the demonstration, nothing further was heard about this initiative as far as I am aware,” said Howai in an e-mail response to questions from the Express.
The minister was responding to questions on why Daniell was solely selected for the project and whether Daniell’s $34 million contract was sent to Cabinet for approval, given the quantum of it.
“This particular contract was approved by the Sport Company (SporTT), not by the ministry. State enterprises can and do enter into contracts without Cabinet’s approval. As far as I can recall, Cabinet would not have been aware of this contract at the time that it was approved. The Ministry of Sport proceeded with it through the Sport Company rather than through the Ministry of Sport itself,” Howai explained.
The audit commissioned by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar into LifeSport had revealed that Daniell’s company, EBeam Interact, was paid $34 million, but no work was ever executed.
The audit noted: “It is obvious that SporTT was a party to this contract mainly because the contract was above the authorised limit of the permanent secretary, 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 contract was drafted by MOS (Ministry of Sport) Legal, and all the conditions necessary to satisfy the readiness of the centres for the start of the Numeracy and Learning Component (N&LC) were always the responsibility of the Ministry of Sport.”
In an interview with the Sunday Express, Daniell had said he would not return the $34 million he earned from the programme because he did not default in his part of the contractual arrangement. Rather, it was the Sport Company that defaulted on its end of the arrangement because it did not provide the necessary infrastructure, which was part of its contract for him to execute his services.
Daniell said there was never a complaint by the Sport Company that the work he was contracted to do was never implemented.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Daniell pointed out the audit had echoed his sentiments that the centres were not in a state of readiness.
Daniell quoted from the audit, which stated: “Central Audit noted that most of the centres visited were not in a state of readiness to accommodate the N&LC. To name a few, Covigne Road, Four Roads, Cocorite, Bagatelle, River Estate, St Paul Street, Morvant, Barataria, Carapo, Pinto Road, Malabar Train Line 1 and 2, etc.
“Furthermore, a number of participants have indicated their interest in pursuing vocational training instead of learning mathematics and English. These factors, together with the significant reduction in attendance, may have further reduced the number of participants interested in the N&LC of the programme.”
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.
Daniell claimed it was because of him the programme was not shut down in 2013 and he had worked for the LifeSport programme for free. Daniell had said Howai could attest to this because of his meeting with him.
When the question was put to Howai, he said his only interaction with Daniell was in the meeting that Roberts had requested.
Asked to respond to the statement the audit was “sloppy”, made by LifeSport programme director Cornelius Price in a Sunday Guardian article yesterday, Howai responded: “I am not aware of the context in which the allegation that the audit was sloppy is being made, but all of the supporting documentation is available to support the various statements that were made in the audit.
“I expect that a lot of allegations will be made by various persons associated with the programme in a direct or indirect attempt to try to prove their innocence or even to drag as many persons through the mud with them as possible, but the Ministry of Finance and the Economy stands by the results of the audit and the professionalism of the senior officers of the Ministry and its overall position in this matter,” he stated.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar laid the audit in Parliament and said she had forwarded a copy of it to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Commissioner of Police, Integrity Commission and head of the Public Service.
The audit revealed the programme has been riddled with financial irregularities; had co-ordinators with criminal backgrounds; massive fraud; millions misspent; ghost centres; ghost participants; improper procurement; and theft were some of the findings.
While millions were lost in padded invoices to contractors, Daniell’s $34 million payment was the single biggest payment of the programme for no work.
SporTT is currently awaiting legal advice from senior State counsel Russel Martineau on a way forward or what actions, if any, can be taken against EBeam.
The Express tried unsuccessfully yesterday to reach Roberts for comment by telephone calls and texts to his cellular phone.
‘Daniell Institute of Learning not associated with Aldolphus Daniell’
Zakiya Daniel, managing director of the Daniell Institute of Learning, has denied Adolphus Daniell is in any way associated with the institute.
She was responding to a Sunday Express article.
Adolphus Daniell was named in the audit of the LifeSport programme as having received $34 million, but had done no work associated with the programme.
In a letter to the Express yesterday, Zakiya Daniel said Adolphus Daniell is her father.
Following is the letter from Zakiya Daniel:
I refer to the article printed in today’s Express on Page 3, “Daniell gets $34m for LifeSport lessons”, in which a picture of the Daniell Institute of Learning building is featured captioned, “PLACE OF LEARNING: Daniell’s Educational Institute in St James yesterday. The school also has locations in Port of Spain and San Fernando.”
The Daniell Institute of Learning is in no way associated with the Mr Aldolphus Daniell, the subject of the article. Although I am Mr Daniell’s daughter, he is neither a director, co-owner, shareholder nor does he have any interest or involvement whatsoever in the company, Daniell Institute of Learning.
I am the owner of the Daniell Institute of Learning Limited. I did not receive so much as a telephone call to confirm whether my business bears any association to Adolphus Daniell. Furthermore, this article may negatively impact my business as members of the public may erroneously form the view as a result of your article and photograph, that my business is connected with Adolphus Daniell and/or the controversial LifeSport programme.
Yours sincerely,
Zakiya Daniel
Managing Director