Greene: Volleyball association repays outstanding NOC funds

The Antigua and Barbuda Volleyball Association (ABVA) has repaid, in full, the US$15,000 it received from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) towards the country’s intended hosting of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (EVCA) Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in September of last year.
The tournament never materialised due to the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria through the Eastern Caribbean.
The volleyball association however, had refused to return the monies in full, claiming some monies had to be deducted for costs already incurred.
President of the NOC, E.P. Chet Greene, confirmed that the US$15,000 has been returned in full.
“My Secretary General, Cliff Williams, advised me that last week the cheque was returned and so the full amount has been accounted for so even that, and I don’t want to make an issue of it because it has been settled and that’s all we had asked for but it only goes to show that, again, rather than being good stewards and being responsible, it’s always a personality conflict,” he said. 
President of the volleyball association, Wilbur Harrigan, was “suspended” in January of this year after he refused to return the monies in full.
Also a Vice President within the NOC, Harrigan had, in January, accused Greene of withholding the facts, adding that the funds were not given to the volleyball association with any specific conditions attached.
Reports are that during a recent visit by a joint IOC/PASO (International Olympic Committee and Pan American Sports Organisation) delegation to Antigua, Harrigan was encouraged to repay the funds in full.
Greene expressed disappointment that it was only following meetings with IOC and PASO that Harrigan opted to “do the right thing.”
“It was very clear that the monies were given for a particular purpose and the purpose for which they were given never materialised where the tournament did not come off and so the responsible thing to do is pay the monies back and so we didn’t need to have that fight or that boiling over in the public,” he said.
“It took the IOC and PASO to send somebody to Antigua to tell Wilbur Harrigan, of all persons, someone who works in the financial sector that monies given for a purpose and not used for the purpose must be returned to the office,” he added.
In December of last year, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the NOC was adjourned as the body sought to rectify a dispute regarding the nomination of one presidential candidate, Neil Cochrane.
The NOC is awaiting a report from the joint IOC/PASO delegation before deciding on the way forward where it pertains to the AGM.