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Fri, Mar

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TTFF"Forget if yuh like Anil, if Anil ugly, if he mouth big, if he stupid. Forget all of that and account for the people money. Provide the bills, the invoices, and the receipts requested on several occasions," Sport Minister Anil Roberts declared yesterday.

Roberts was defiant. Holding a media conference in the corridor just outside the main chamber of Parliament, he announced yesterday that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) should not expect Government funding until the local football body holds elections.

Similarly, he added that for funding to resume to the TTFF, its contracted marketing official Anthony Harford must also submit full accounts detailing how $11 million in Government funds was spent in 2011 during the failed World Cup qualifying campaign.

However, Roberts says that national football teams will not suffer during the Government-placed funds freeze on the TTFF. Instead, Roberts disclosed a new policy which requires managers of individual national football teams to submit their budget on a TTFF letter head, and come to the Ministry of Sport to discuss funding.

Roberts had accused Harford of using Government funds to pay his own company All Sport Promotions $936,000 for services rendered to the TTFF, and also of not submitting accounts of how the $11 million was used. Both Harford and the TTFF say they complied with all the Sports Ministry requests.

"I tell you that All Sport, TTFF, Tony Harford not getting ah cent," Roberts insisted yesterday. "All managers of all (national football) teams must come specifically on the letterhead of the TTFF and put in their budget one by one.

So the manager of the senior team came and their team is going (to the Caribbean Cup). When they come back and move on, they will do the same again. The under-23 manager...the women manager will do the same until elections in the TTFF and some sort of accountability come about."

"Football will continue to get funding but not through Mister Harford, or any authorisations committee. And finally I call on Lennox Watson (TTFF interim president), who is suddenly become this bastion of accountability, to call the election. Call the football election because people are calling for that. They want to see transparency, democracy. Call the football elections."

Roberts also admitted that former FIFA vice-president and National Security Jack Warner did write him a letter in April asking him to stop the funding for football.

"Warner did write me and as a citizen he could write anything. But nobody will tell me what to do or how to run my Ministry. I read the letter and put it in the bin, Roberts declared."

"After April, the Ministry sent $1.5 million (to) national teams anyway, but we did not send it to Harford. Yuh see the difference, he did not get the money. The money went to the providers, Crown Plaza or Cascadia Hotel, or the transport or the travel agent."

Roberts also added that it is the obligation of the TTFF to pay the coaches they contract and not that of the Ministry of Sport. Roberts said the Sport Ministry will only pay those coaches they had specifically agreed to pay. He say the TTFF must pay the rest.

"The Ministry will support coaches of course, but not at this juncture when the TTFF has no accountability, they have an authorisation committee that has not provided minutes of any meeting," Roberts said.