If international auditing firm KPMG had any concerns about the vast flows of sponsorship money going out of the bank accounts of one of its client, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF), to an agent company created and controlled by the client’s special adviser Jack Warner, it is not at all apparent in the unqualified statement covering three years of audited accounts the firm signed off on in 2008.
LOC Germany, Warner himself and private companies in which National Security Minister Warner had an interest were allowed without challenge, sanction or a note to any of the accounts, to funnel tens of millions of dollars out of TTFF’s bank accounts.
In the three-year period under review—2005 to 2007—LOC Germany diverted over $32 million in grants and sponsorship money paid into two TTFF accounts held with Republic Bank to itself. JAW Ltd, a private Warner company, redirected more than $13 million in public and private sector money held at the Republic Bank West Mall and Long Circular branches to itself.
Financial records, TTFF bank statements and other documents in the possession of this newspaper show about $3 million in grant money paid to the national football federation in support of the 2006 World Cup campaign being moved to Jamad Ltd, another private Warner entity. The documents show some $9 million was re-routed from the two Republic Bank accounts to Warner himself.
Sponsorship funds were also redirected to other Warner associated companies, including the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Catch of D Day, Sportel Ltd and CONCACAF (the body which represents football federations from North and Central America and the Caribbean) and of which Warner was president.
Another $322,000, representing six transactions over several months in 2007, was moved from another TTFF account held with First Citizens Bank at the corner of Park and Henry Streets to Jamad Ltd.
The documents show several instances where millions of dollars were deposited into TTFF’s bank accounts and just as quickly transferred to LOC Germany or Warner-related accounts.
On May 2, 2006, $14.4 million was debited from the Republic West Mall account in favour of LOC Germany. The deposit for the same amount was made 16 days later by the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.
There was another similar money-out money-in transaction on May 8. LOC Germany cleared out a little over $2.6 million the same day the exact sum was paid in by a corporate sponsor.
Voucher-payable documents show a $6.7 million payment being made to Warner in July 2007. The football association’s top officials Oliver Camps and Richard Groden were signatories to the paperwork. The government had paid in just over $10.1 million via the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs the week before. There were also occasions when the bank transfers placed the TTFF accounts in overdraft.
Rampersad has not responded to a request for comment on several important aspects of the TTFF financials drawn up by him including whether Warner had an input in the making of the accounts but all the evidence place him in a very conflicted position. In the first of four sets of accounts produced by him and addressed to Warner as president of CONCACAF, Rampersad noted: “In accordance with your request we have completed the accompanying statement of income and expenditure relative to TT’s participation” in the 2006 World Cup.
In the 2006 accounts, Rampersad, who was also the auditor of CONCACAF, declared a total sponsorship income of $13 million. As reported in Part I of this series, official state records place the total sponsorship and grant figure at a minimum of $205.6 million. Sources report that an unknown amount of funds paid into TTFF’s coffers in support of the 2006 World Cup effort were redirected elsewhere.
The federation’s auditor, KPMG, responding to a list of questions from the Express, made clear that LOC Germany was created to “see about all aspects of our football team’s preparation and participation in the 2006 World Cup” and as far as they were concerned it was a “separate legal entity” and did not form part of its audit remit.
Managing Partner of KPMG Robert Alleyne explained it this way: “You would appreciate that LOC and TTFF being separate legal entities and our audit engagement related to TTFF alone, consequently, we had no basis to request or to examine the accounting records of LOC.”
Asked whether KPMG investigated the circumstances in which TTFF ended up indebted to its special adviser Warner, KPMG said: “We stand by our audit report which did not express any reservations about the debt.”
Questioned about a $716,339 debt to LOC Germany in 2006 Alleyne said: “There is no requirement to disclose the purpose of debt.”
Alleyne made clear that the questions submitted by this reporter “crossed the line” and that the international auditing firm had “an overriding contractual obligation” to its client “to keep information obtained by us in our capacity as their auditor, confidential.”
He said further that KPMG’s policies “prevent us from commenting on the nature of or outcome of the audit.”
—Continues on Wednesday with The Great Deception.
RELATED NEWS
Warner hits out at the media
By Renuka Singh (Express).
JACK LASHES BACK
National Security Minister Jack Warner yesterday described himself as “incorruptible”.
Warner was referring specifically to an exclusive Express investigation which found that over $100 million went missing during his dealings with local football since 2006.
The investigation by head of the Express Investigative Desk, Camini Marajh, also found that millions of dollars were transferred to Warner’s bank accounts from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF).
“If I did not believe that (I was incorruptible) I wouldn’t say it. You point to anything that I have done as a Minister in this country that warrant me to change my opinion. Nothing,” he said.
“In 2013, seven years later we are struggling to prevent us from being the world’s most stupid country as far as journalism is concerned,” he said.
“Who would have thought that after bringing this country, the smallest country on earth in 2006 to the biggest event on earth (World Cup football) that seven years after, I would read so much garbage? Who would have thought so?” he said.
Warner was delivering the keynote address at a Recognition and Awards ceremony for members of the protective services at his Ministry’s office on Abercromby Street yesterday during which he spent the majority of his speaking time criticising the local media for focusing too much on negative news.
He took sections of the media to task for what he described as continued attacks on him now by using old information.
“No reporter thought about expenditure, what this cost, what that cost. They only concerned with income and that is news...If you want to look at something that happened seven years ago which is still out there in the public domain, I am not prepared to be sidetracked,” he said.
When asked to comment specifically about the allegations, Warner said he “had guys with silk who would do that” for him.
“When they put on their silk they will do it (respond), for the time being don’t let me do for them nah. I have said nothing more, all I am saying is that when they put on their silk, they will deal with that. Don’t let me do it for them,” he said.
He said even with all the negative reports about him he would not be deterred, but was curious why he was the “bete noire” of the Government.
“My wife is telling me where the money gone? I say what money you talking about and when she show me (the article) I said ‘steups’,” he said.
Despite two recent surveys that showed he remained the most popular Minister of the People’s Partnership Government, Warner described himself as the most despised, but soon clarified that statement.
“I won’t say I am the most despised because one media house has a grievance, I don’t judge myself by that, “he said.
Warner maintained that he is being unfairly targeted by one media house in particular but said the country was “not stupid”.
“One thing about this country is that people are not stupid and people can see what is happening. I mean one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, people can see what is happening,” Warner said.
He accused the Express of using him “to sell papers”.
Two weeks ago, an internal memo from Warner’s office was leaked to the media, which stated that the distribution of advertisements had to be approved by Warner. This was considered by commentators to be a high handed move to starve offending media houses of lucrative Government advertising deals.
“I can’t speak for other Ministries but I know that my Ministry has a limited budget and I want to make sure that the money they have is spent prudently and they get the best coverage for the money they spent. So I want to oversee how it is spent, where it is spent. That is the reason behind it,” he said.
Warner on report of football corruption probe: Let them write, I don’t care
By Geisha Kowlessar (Guardian).
“I don’t give a fig and who wants to write let them write.” So said National Security Minister Jack Warner yesterday in response to a fresh wave of news reports of his tenure in the football fraternity.
“Who want to write, write. I don’t care. The time will come when we will deal with that. I will hit them with hurt,” he told members of the media at a recognition and awards ceremony for various law enforcement bodies at his ministry’s Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, offices.
The latest reports deal with Warner’s tenure in the Caribbean Football Union and Concacaf and his relationship with former Concacaf official Chuck Blazer. It noted that US authorities were now looking at the operations of both bodies in an ongoing probe into corruption in international football.
The latest report comes after a March 27 Reuters article claimed Warner’s son, Daryan, had agreed to co-operate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in another probe into corruption in FIFA.
Yesterday, Warner said: “All guns were pointed at me,” adding there were certain people who were bent on getting him at all costs. He added: “You have to ask yourself why? Why Jack Warner? The fact is to get Jack Warner and bring him down because if you do that, this aggressive war, this fight on crime, will end. “The drug lords will not like me. The drug lords supporters will not like me. But I don’t give a fig. I am doing what I was supposed to do.”
Warner, who also accused the media of “using” him to sell papers, said he was undeterred because he had the support of the people. Praising the officers for their hard work and dedication, Warner warned them not to expect any recognition from the media because the media “would not be interested in that.”
He also urged them to continue working for the good of T&T and to dismiss negative, saying: “This is a seven-day country. Sometimes I call it chinee country, their memory short. Who would have thought that after bringing this country, the smallest country on earth, to the biggest event on earth in 2006 (World Cup), that seven years after I would read such garbage or hear about it at least.
“But this is the country we live in. So seven years after my wife would tell me ‘a $100 million and more so where the money gone?’” He said in the media reports there was no mention of expenditure. “It was only income and that is news. So while we struggled in 2006 to put the smallest country in the world on the highest level in 2013, seven years later we are struggling to prevent us from being the world’s most stupid country as far as journalism is concerned,” he added.
Urging the officers not to “fall for that,” Warner told them once they did what was right they could sleep very soundly at night. Regarding crime statistics, Warner said for the past three nights and days there were no murders but that would not be reported because the media was not interested in that kind of news.
He said: “All the drug busts you have made, you would not hear anything about that. The Coast Guard stopped 90 vessels over the Easter weekend but again you would not hear anything about that.”