-recently built cricket hostels falling apart
Pretipaul Jaigobin, who was drenched with acid on Tuesday, was hot on the trail of a series of financial improprieties at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) such as a $26M hike in the cost of a hostel at LBI and persons close to the board want the police to carefully probe this lead.
Stabroek News yesterday spoke with two persons fully knowledgeable of board matters who requested anonymity out of concern for their safety, in light of the attack on Jaigobin.
They issued a strong call for the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to thoroughly investigate the “dastardly” act that has left Jaigobin seriously disfigured and there are moves to approach the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as it is strongly believed that he was attacked because of his querying of irregularities at the board level.
When asked on Wednesday about the allegations of impropriety that had been made by Jaigobin, GCB President Chetram Singh told Stabroek News “as far as my knowledge goes there are no irregularities in the board’s finances but Jaigobin, being versed in accounting, will ask more questions than some people and questions that are justifiable.” Singh further said, “There were no irregularities.
What Jai was asking was whether the unpaid cheques had been balanced with the sum tally at the bottom. The two sets of entries – the unpaid cheques along with the paid cheques should equal to the amounts of money. It was nothing big it was ordinary questions.”
Stabroek News was told that there is a bitter division in the 13-man board and that the attack on Jaigobin came on the heels of a very heated meeting last week Friday. In the end, board president Singh was forced to abort the meeting.
Significantly, Stabroek News has learnt that two months ago Jaigobin was a member of a three- man team that was mandated to investigate irregularities in the building of the Anna Regina cricket hostel, which while already falling apart had the contractor claiming that he was still owed $4.8M though the board treasurer had reported that he had been paid in full.
Board members declined to speak when contacted for comment. “The men are afraid because if this could happen to Jai who is to say the next time it might not be a bullet. And these men have families, they have children they would not want to sacrifice their lives for cricket,” a source told this newspaper.
This newspaper was also told that Jaigobin was outspoken on the arbitrary changing of the constitution that governs the board by some members and because of his accounting skills he would also go through the financial records with a fine tooth comb and point out “things that were not right.” “He was not like [the others] who would not speak up too much. He would always speak out and that was the problem. That is why this happen to him and it is sad, it is sad what cricket is today but the board handles a lot of money and people think he getting in the way so this was done to frighten him,” a source explained.
If the attack of the father of two was to indeed shut him up on cricket business, then it may have succeeded as he has since indicated that he will resign as assistant treasurer of the board upon his release from the hospital and cease all association with the organisation. However, some of his colleagues are lobbying for him to remain on the board.
Jaigobin, 41, of 18 Section C, Clonbrooek, East Coast Demerara stopped at a Strathspey restaurant for a few drinks with a friend last Tuesday night. It was as they were leaving that a strange man walked up to him and asked, “Why you don’t leave my friends alone?” and then pitched the acid in his face. His companion rushed him to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) where he was admitted to the Burn Care Unit. He has since publicly stated that the attack stemmed from his no-nonsense approach on the board and this notion has been supported by many in cricketing circles.
‘A lot of money’
According to sources, Jaigobin, who is employed at the Ministry of Finance as a special projects officer and reports to senior project officers and sometimes the Minister of Finance, is very “sharp on financial figures and that is what got to them.” “The Guyana Cricket Board handles a lot of money; Jai has been uncovering a lot of frauds,” a source close to the board said. Reports are that one of the main concerns of some of the board members is the fact that monies were being disbursed without the knowledge or approval of the board members or the finance committee.
In recent times, Jaigobin had spoken about the fact that the LBI hostel for which the board had released $43 million was completed and it was later learnt that the final cost was $69M. Sources say at no time did the persons responsible return to the board for permission to release the additional monies and Jaigobin had repeatedly called for an investigation into the issue. “He strongly criticised this and then it was later it was noted that the building was falling apart already,” a source said. But more importantly it was later learnt that a board member was associated with a constructing company doing some of the work and this was also questioned by Jaigobin and others.
The assistant treasurer was also outspoken on the Essequibo hostel which has seen the contractor writing the board and demanding $4.8M he said was still owed to him. “And in the meantime both hostels are falling apart as a result of shoddy work,” a source said and revealed that at the hostels the tiles are becoming unstuck, walls are cracking, roofs are leaking and toilet fixtures are falling off. “Jai at meeting after meeting highlighted and expressed his extreme concern over the excessive and unauthorised payments for both hostels,” this newspaper was told.
At last week Friday’s meeting, he, among other things, objected to what he described as an “unauthorised press conference” since the two members who spoke at the press conference did not seek the approval from the entire board on the issues that were addressed. Following the objections, one board member stormed out and the meeting was aborted.
Stabroek News was also told that it was through Jaigobin’s diligence that it was discovered that the cricket board actually suffered a loss at last year end’s ‘Cricket Festival’ even though the initial financial report that was presented indicated that the board had made a profit. Jaigobin later discovered that some of the expenditure to host the Twenty/20 tournament at the Guyana National Stadium was not included in the initial financial report to the board. When these were included, it revealed that the board suffered a loss.
There had been a proposal for an accounting firm to be hired to assess the questionable transaction but this was thrown out by an influential board member. Another point of contention which Jaigobin again objected to was the issuing of letters to be taken to the various embassies by cricketers in support of their bids to secure visas. The letters would declare that the persons were bonifide cricketers and that their travel would be cricket related. Stabroek News was told that while the board was told that 80 such letters were issued last year, when Jaigobin visited the office the record showed that only 28 letters were issued, two of which were fraudulent as the persons never played cricket.
It is believed that although the letters are supposed to be issued free of cost someone might have been collecting a fee from persons who are not cricketers and issuing the letters.
At a recent cricket tournament, tickets to the Presidential Suite at the stadium were sold by some members close to the board and persons who behaved and dressed inappropriately gained access.
“But the tickets were sold without the approval of the entire board, some members just saw a way to make money,” Stabroek News was told.
Meanwhile, Jaigobin was said to be one of several board members who had strenuously objected to the board’s constitution being changed as not only was this was being done to facilitate some of the “wrong-doings” but it was also being done without the approval of the general membership. In the end, the amendments were approved six to four by those present at the meeting in a very bitter atmosphere. “But the thing is the powers that be has been using both constitutions inter-changeably to suit their agenda,” a source said.
Another sore point on the board was the appointment of the acting president whenever Singh was out of the country, since there are two vice-presidents. According to sources, only one is appointed as acting president. Some board members said that because the other vice-president got 25 votes as apposed to the 13 votes garnered by the favoured vice-president, he should be allowed to act in the absence of the president. “People have been monkeying around with the finances, monkeying around with the constitution and this has to stop,” a source added, while calling for due diligence to be followed in all cricket-related issues. “In the view of all the issues raised, Jai became a target and some executive members strongly believe that this attack was because of due diligence,” a source said.
