The Court’s determination of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association’s (TTFA) repayment proposal filed under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act is expected to be made on Wednesday by High Court Judge Devindra Rampersad.
On September 7, Justice Rampersad sat virtually to consider the application to approve the repayment proposal filed by Maria Daniel, the Trustee acting on behalf of the TTFA’s FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee (TTFA NC).
At that hearing, the Court approved a short adjournment to Monday to consider filings made by former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, former T&T national coach Terry Fenwick and sports marketer Peter Miller.
On September 6, the Trustee was notified of applications made by the attorneys representing Fenwick and Miller appealing against the determinations she made regarding their claims.
At the September 26, hearing, attorneys Bronock Reid and Kiev Chesney, representing Fenwick and Miller respectively, agreed to the Trustee’s proposal of having the invalidated portions of their claims set aside and placed in a trust, pending the final determination of their appeal hearings.
The funds that will be set aside will be allocated from the US$3.5 million financial instrument approved by the TTFA and unanimously by the creditors to fund the proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
Creditors owed up to TT$200,000.00 will be paid in full and balances above that will be pro-rated. They will also have the option to be paid in US or TT dollars.
Attorney Nera Narine, acting on behalf of Warner, presented arguments challenging the Trustee’s decision to disallow the claims of Warner and his various companies.
Kerwyn Garcia, instructed by Chrishaunda Baboolal, acting on behalf of the Trustee, defended the position of the Trustee’s determinations and the ethics and compliance requirements of the proposal’s debt financiers and emphasised the national significance of the substantive matter for the future of football.
Justice Rampersad adjourned the matter and is expected to provide his decision on the TTFA’s application for the approval of the repayment proposal today.
The proposal was developed by Daniel and her EY Team in collaboration with the TTFA’s FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee and will be funded by an interest-free USD$3.5 million instrument that the TTFA will have ten years to repay.
There were 299 creditors listed in the trustee’s repayment proposal with a total unsecured debt of TT$84.5 million. Ninety-three of these submitted had claims amounting to $59.3m of which 88 were validated with a value of $34.4m before today’s meeting. Fifty-one of them (or their proxies) registered and voted at today’s meeting.
Notably absent was the TTFA’s largest listed creditor, Austin Jack Warner, who topped the list with a debt of $22.7 million. Daniel advised the meeting that Warner did not submit a claim for validation.
The trustee’s original proposal, which creditors received on April 22, was enhanced before the meeting—total funding was increased by US$500,000 to US$3.5 million, and instead of allocating a TT$3 million provision for the BIR and the NIB, funds would now be set aside for outstanding payments monthly.
The meeting included representatives from the Office of the Supervisor of Insolvency; law firm Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan; EY; and Normalisation Committee chairman Robert Hadad and member Nicholas Gomez.”
There were also submissions from Anton Corneal, the current technical director, former national coaches Dennis Lawrence, Russell Latapy, Stern John and former General Secretary Sheldon Phillip, who submitted the biggest claim for $12 million, among many others.