Letter to the Sports Editor…The Foster Report: INCRIMINATES RATHER THAN EXONERATES

Feb 14, 2012 Sports

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Dear Editor,
The Kaieteur News Article of February 7th 2012 headlined “GCB Exonerated by the Rupert Foster Report” is yet another failed attempt by the minority Executives of the previous GCB  who now control the Board, as they continue to mislead the public with their sensational pronouncements.
On reading the article we found that the presentation reflected the views, thoughts and expressions of the body referred to above and not Mr. Foster’s report.
Indeed it is surprising if not totally unethical and improper for the GCB to usurp the functions of the Registrar of the Friendly Societies, who hired Mr. Foster to make such a release.
Especially in light of the fact that the report is still under investigation and that the Essequibo Cricket Board headed by Mr. Sheik Asif Ahmad (former Treasurer of the GCB) had taken the Registrar to court in an effort to quash the registration of the GCB to prevent the forensic audit requested by the Executives.
Mr. Foster’s investigation was of such poor quality that the Executives had written the Minister of Labour requesting that Mr. Foster be changed since he presented an obvious bias in his approach to the interviews.
He made it no secret that he was campaigning for Ramsay Ali telling us that we should vote for him.
His obvious disregard for our contributions to the process resulted in early termination of the interviews since he was just going through the process.
Although some of the interviews were conducted separately, we all felt that he was not open-minded from the start and that his entire investigation would be compromised.
In analyzing the article it is quite obvious that the group selected a few excerpts from the report and camouflaged them with their own versions and thoughts purely to mislead the general public.
1.    In page 10 of the Foster Report, Mr. Foster conceded that payments were made without the due authority of the Executive. Yet he seeks to justify this constitutional violation by contending that five [5] members of the Executive were on the Finance Committee (Mr. Chetram Singh, Mr. Anand Sanasie, Mr. Ramsay Ali, Mr. Sheik Asif Ahmad and Pretipaul Jaigobin).
The truth however is that on the very rare occasions that the Finance Committee met, Pretipaul Jaigobin was either deliberately excluded or was out-voted, no reports nor recommendations were made to the Executive and payments were made without scrutiny and approval of the Executive.  It is apposite to know that Mr. Sheik Asif Ahmad, who was treasurer of the GCB, headed the Finance Committee and his performance and attendance at meetings were so poor that he was openly criticized by the Executive and a recommendation was made by Mr. Terry Holder to have him removed from office.
2.    Also, on page 10 of the report, Mr. Foster noted that Secretary Anand Sanasie approved payments and invoices and signed both the vouchers and cheques. This is an important revelation as it highlights what was clearly an improper accounting practice.
3.    With particular reference to the LBI hostel, the GCB Executive was the authority for the construction of the hostel. However, Secretary Anand Sanasie took over this project aided and abetted by Chetram Singh and Sheik Asif Ahmad.
Secretary Anand Sanasie :
(a) Formatted the Contract
(b)Supervised the Construction
(c)Approved variations including the estimates
(d)Approved all payments and signed all cheques
Very little of what was going on with the construction of the hostel was communicated to the Executive and it was later learnt that the contractor was at the time in the employ of Mr. Sanasie and he did not disclose the fact.
The construction of the LBI hostel was shrouded in secrecy and the initial cost of $49,433,856 skyrocketed to beyond $70,000,000. The Executive was never presented with estimates for discussion and approval.
The concern with this project was so great that the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport ordered an investigation into the construction. This was carried out by the firm Design & Construction Services Ltd who noted in their report:
a) no valuation or payment certificates were provided
b) Attempts to produce a detailed assessment of the project were severely impeded by the lack of critical information pertaining to the project. The limited information that was provided proved conflicting and could not be relied on.
c) No receipts / payments were provided to DCSL.
What it is of particular importance is that the revelations of this very questionable project which utilized a significant amount of the GCB’s financial resources were not included in the Foster Report. Four (4) months after the completion of this project, the LBI hostel began to show signs of inferior construction e.g. cracked walls, broken doors and defective electrical fittings.
There was also concern in relation to the furnishing of the hostel including duplication of some expenses. The financial statement of the GCB revealed that payments were made for the purchase of bed frames and also for the construction of the very bed frames. A cost of $250,000 was made for the installation of a hot water system. No hot water system was ever installed.
The invoices, payments, vouchers, cheques and final report (including costs) on the construction of the LBI hostel were never presented to the GCB Executive, Design & Construction Services and the Ministry of Sport. The final figure for the hostel was never made known.
4.    On page 11 Mr. Foster again conceded that the large amounts (in excess of $14,000,000 ) expended by Anand Sanasie, Sheik Asif Ahmad and Ramsay Ali on the T20 fundraising matches in 2009 should have been approved by the Executive especially it yielded a paltry profit of $662,000.
Mr. Foster omitted to report that no receipts, vouchers, invoices artiste contract or official report was presented to the Executive or Finance Committee.
Mr. Ramsay Ali submitted a short page for monies purportedly paid out but without any relevant invoice or voucher and refused to sign that ‘paper’. One wonders if Mr. Ramsey Ali, as CEO of Sterling Products Ltd, would spend $14,000,000 of his Company’s resources to yield a profit of less than 5% and fail to produce a signed official statement of Income and Expenditure.
5.    On page 12 of the Foster Report, Mr. Foster reported that Ramsay Ali failed to produce a financial report to the Executive on the two (2) T20 Guyana and Trinidad fundraising matches at the National Stadium in August 2010 having regard to the vast sums expended. For each of the two (2) days of the matches, the venue was filled to capacity as was applauded by the Director of Sport Neil Kumar at a lunch for the cricketers at the Princess Hotel.
The capacity crowds translated into $30,000,000 ticket sales.  Remarkably, Mr. Ali reported that the event grossed only $16,527,000 in ticket sales. Mr. Chetram Singh, Mr. Anand Sanasie and Mr. Ramsay Ali were in charge of the gates.
Over the years the GCB would use the night deposit system for their monies. For the matches mentioned above, there was no night deposit and reportedly the monies were kept at a location of one of the GCB Executive on the East Bank of Demerara.
An amount of $8,995,000 was recorded as an “Undeposited Fund” in the September, 2010 GCB financial statement (Mr. Foster erroneously reported that it was recorded in the October 2010 financial statement). However, Mr. Foster’s report recorded gross ticket sales at $16,527,000 and not the $30,000,000 which should have been guaranteed by the capacity crowds.
There are therefore two very alarming discrepancies in the scale of tickets. A figure of approximately $6,000,000 for food and drinks concessions, private booths and sponsorship was not included in the Foster Report.  Executive members questioned the whereabouts of the ‘undeposited’ amount of $8,995,000. No explanation was given at the Executive level.
6.    It is therefore remarkable that the Foster Report stated that the $8,995,000 was placed in a GCB Trustee Fund (page 13). Yet the very Foster Report on page 3 item 8 noted that no Trustees were appointed which violates the GCB constitution.
This reality clearly escaped Mr. Foster who placed the contentious $8,995,000 in an account that does not exist. Never in the past decade of the GCB has there been a remote mention of a GCB Trustee account. There is no evidence of such an account in the financial records of the GCB.
The financial improprieties of the GCB are many and varied and the many questions asked by the members of the past Executive on the financial report were brushed aside at executive meetings and now by Mr. Foster.
Other disturbing financial irregularities include:
(a) the sum of $1,500,000 paid to the contractor of the Anna Regina Hostel in January 2010 without the approval of the Executive. The very executive had months before been informed by Mr. Sheik Asif Ahmad that the contractor has been paid in full.
(b) An amount of $600,000 was disbursed to the Essequibo Cricket board to stage women’s cricket competition. No competition was played and the money vanished.
(c)Mr. Chetram Singh reported to the Executive in August that a sum of US$50,000 was received from the WICB. The GCB accounts do no record this sum or its Guyana dollars equivalent.
(d) A figure of $4,100,000 was recorded as expenditure for the purchase of cricket balls but was not recorded in the YTD Financial report of the GCB.
(e) Funds expended on the Pakistan tour 2011 were not put the Executives for discussion and approval, no statement and expenditures were produced. These issues were also raised with Mr. Foster but were conveniently omitted from his report.
Over the years the GCB would issue letters to cricketers who played for Guyana in order to facilitate them in acquiring the requisite visas to ply their trade in the prescribed country.
In July 2009, Mr. Bissoondyal Singh who was then acting President was presented with 2 letters addressed to the Canadian Consular Officer and signed by Secretary Anand Sanasie indicating that the particular cricketer had played cricket for Guyana and was embarking on a cricket contract in Canada.
Mr. Bissoondyal Singh enquired from Sanasie if he had verified the necessary records and he answered in the affirmative. Mr. Bissoondyal Singh then signed the first letter.
The second letter however raised alarm bells since Mr. Bissoondyal Singh was aware that the second applicant never played cricket for Guyana. He immediately called Mr. Claude Raphael Chairman of the Senior Selectors seeking his advice on the first letter.
Upon being advised that the person in the first letter never played for Guyana Mr. Bissoondyal Singh immediately scratched his signature from the first letter leaving only Mr. Sanasie signature appended. Mr. Bissoondyal Singh then rejected both letters which angered Mr. Sanasie who insisted that the letters must be signed.
Mr. Bissoondyal Singh then refused and pointed out to Sanasie that he was disappointed and deeply concerned that he was being asked to affix his signature to what was clearly a fraudulent letter. Mr. Bissoondyal Singh added that he had officially distanced himself from that particular exercise of the GCB and never before or since signed such letters.
The matter was subsequently raised at an executive meeting where Mr. Chetram Singh reiterated the Board’s policy of only issuing letters only to players who played for Guyana.
He stated at the meeting that for 2009 approximately eighty (80) such letters were signed on player’s request, while Mr. Sanasie said it is approximately 65 letters.
Mr. Jaigobin then presented a copy of a letter which was addressed to the US Consular Officer for a player who had not fulfilled the criteria but signed by Mr. Chetram Singh and Anand Sanasie.
Mr. Chetram Singh apologized for signing that letter which he said was a mistake on his part, since he was misled by Anand Sanasie. After this scheme was exposed by Mr. Bissoondyal Singh, he was never again allowed to act as President.
In an attempt to cover up the matter Mr. Foster’s report deliberately ignored the roles of Chetram Singh and Anand Sanasie whose signatures are still affixed to the bogus letter while Mr. Bissoondyal Singh had scratched his signature as soon as he recognized the hoax.
It is important to note that it was Secretary Anand Sanasie who was recording the minutes during this time. However after several meetings and complaints by members relating to the numerous deliberate false insertions and omissions he had to be replaced by Ronald Williams as note taker.
Mr. Foster’s Report suggested that 31 letters were issued in 2009. Chetram Singh disclosed to the executive meeting that 80 letters were issued, while Anand Sanasie said 65.
The GCB on the insistence of the executives appointed Claude Raphael, Ronald Williams and Pretipaul Jaigobin to investigate the visa letter issue and report to the Board.
Upon checking the relevant file only 28 letters were listed, every other letter had been removed from the file including the thirteen members of the 2009 Guyana Team that had applied for visas to participate in the Annual Cricket Festival for the independence celebrations in Canada.
The select committee was therefore unable to go any further with the visa letter Investigation.
Interestingly, working with the figures provided by Mr. Foster in his report, there was a reduction in the request for Visa Letters in 2010 by 250%. It must be noted that Mr. Foster was asked several questions regarding the aforementioned but instead resorted deliberate distortions in response.
The Audit Report by PFK Barcellos Narine & Company states that, “Our work did not encompass a detailed review of all aspects of the system and cannot be relied on necessarily to disclose all defalcations or other irregularities”.
We appreciate their professionalism in this disclosure while Mr. Foster’s approach lacked professionalism since in his report there were a number of unsubstantiated figures and misleading statements which has now surfaced and which were deliberately designed to mislead the general public.
In consequence, the Foster Report INCRIMINATES RATHER THAN EXONERATES the minority group of the former GCB.
Yours truly
Former Executives of the
Guyana Cricket Board

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