TRINIDAD-LAWSUIT-Government seeking to recover millions

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jul 8, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government has defended the decision to file a lawsuit against the president of a company that was paid millions of dollars in the controversial Life Sport programme, SporTT, saying it is confident it would recover the funds.
“We are pursuing a claim against Ebeam for failing to perform any of the adequate services and we are claiming there was a total failure of consideration for the contract. We are going against Ebeam for failing to provide any adequate deliverables. It is the State’s contention it is entitled to a repayment of the TT$34 million (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents),” said the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of the Attorney General Stuart Young.
The government alleges that the president of Ebeam Interact Ltd, Adolphus Daniell, was paid the funds for a contract under the Life Sport programme which never materialised and Young said at the outset of the contract there was “suspicious activity,” as the contract was also backdated and there were two payments of TT$17.5 million of which nothing was received in return.
In 2014, the Cabinet fired the former SporTT board after it decided to pay off a TT$34 million contract to Daniell’s EBeam Interact for work he did not do in the now defunct Life Sport programme.
Young said a claim has also been brought against 14 defendants, the majority of whom were the former directors of the Sport Company.
“We are seeking a declaration that they are guilty of breach of their fiduciary duties under the Company’s Act, guilty of negligence, and caused to make a contract on June 2013 and back dated it to December 2012.
“We have found evidence through forensic work that the contract we believed was December 6, 2012, was made June 5, 2013 to facilitate the first payment of TT$17.5 million. We have a very strong legal team, we will not be deterred.
“We have been working with international agencies, including international law enforcement agencies. I will be making another trip to Washington in the coming weeks to continue the work we are doing there,” Young said.