Familiar name calling again in 2023.$2.5 million ‘missing’ from 2020 Army FeteAsha Javeed 2 hrs ago Comments
CARNIVAL RETURNS: Thousands of party-goers attend the Army Fete at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on Friday night. —Photo: Jermaine Cruickshank
ON THE heels of Friday night’s hosting of the 2023 Army Fete, documents seen by Sunday Business reveal a Board of Inquiry (BOI) report by the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (TTR) found that there were elements of fraud, embezzlement and a ticketing scandal which led to the potential loss of millions in earnings for its 2020 Army Fete.
The BOI was ordered by Colonel Darnley Wyke during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020. A subsequent request in October 2020 was made by Colonel Peter Ganesh to the Chief of Defence Staff to initiate an Inspector General Investigation into the allegations “and other criminal activities resulting from the planning and conduct of Army Fete 2020”.
Confidential recordingThese findings were contained in a confidential recording of the proceedings of the BOI document obtained by the Sunday Express.
The T&T Regiment is funded by the State.
The 2020 Army fete was held on February 14 at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain.
The report noted that 19,525 tickets for the General and VIP sections of Army Fete 2020, with a total value of $6,580,000 were produced for the event.
In addition, a total of 550 tickets were produced for the VVIP section of the fete with a total potential value $517,500. The VVIP tickets were divided into couples—225 tickets, VVIP single—225 tickets and VVIP officers—100 tickets.
“Upon completion of the event it was reported by (company’s name called) that Army Fete 2020 earned a profit of $478,349.28. The reported expenditure was stated as $3,594,312.29, and the reported total revenue was $4,072,661.57,” the report said.
The report noted that gross income before profit sharing in the ratio 55 per cent/45 per cent as reported by the executive producer was $478,349.28.
That fell short of the Army’s projected potential income by about $2,546,558.00.
The report noted that sums earned from the Army Fete were used to host its annual Children’s Party, to re-invest in the Fete, and to cover the expenses for its annual Regiment Calypso Competition.
Ticketing scandalTicket distribution was identified as the area where the losses incurred.
“There were no accounting measures for the distribution of complimentary tickets and backstage passes. Irregularities were found in the distribution of complimentary tickets and backstage passes to artistes, which was not stated in the contractual terms. Contracts provided to the Board made no mention of the requirement or stipulation of complimentary tickets or backstage passes for artistes,” the report noted.
“The use of predominantly cash transactions in Army Fete, which generates millions of dollars in income, may have provided opportunities for improprieties such as loss, fraud, theft and tax evasion.
“This accounting practice is not aligned to international best practices for promoting transparency and reducing opportunities for corrupt behaviour,” it observed.
Some of the circumstances that contributed to the unanticipated loss in income were identified as:
1. The hosting of the VVIP and its associated costs contributed to the unanticipated loss in income to Army Fete, as proceeds from the sales of tickets and concessions at $140,791.28, were used to cover costs related to the VVIP, as well as 54 letters of invitations to VVIP, which accounted for just over $50,000 of unrealised revenue. Additionally, $32,323.72 from VVIP ticket sales was used to cover costs associated with Army Fete (general and VIP sections).” Expenditure at $677,272.21 for the VVIP Section was therefore more than revenue at $334,700, and a loss of $342,572.21 was realised,” the report stated;
2. Excessive complimentary tickets and backstage passes: 1,100 General complimentary tickets, 225 VIP complimentary tickets and 800 Backstage passes. This accounted for in excess of $1.4 million of unrealised revenue;
3. Complimentary tickets accounted for 23 per cent of lost potential revenue. “The contractual agreement is silent on the production and distribution of complimentary tickets; both to artistes and stakeholders of the producer and executive producer. While complimentary tickets were not recorded by the committee as an item of expenditure, it accounts for a substantial amount of potential revenue, which was not realised,” the report said;
4. There was a decrease in reported ticket sales from 16,020 in 2019 to 11,440 in 2020, a difference of 4,580 at an approximate value of $1.4 million;
5. Increased infrastructure cost of $1,279,720.22 from 2019 to $1,513,938.65 in 2020, a difference of $234,218.43;
6. The report noted that accounting practices were in variance with international best practices. “This was determined as there was no one person identified as responsible for expenditure, there was commingling of funds between the General/VIP and VVIP sections, there was no audit report completed by the committee, there was no revenue and expenditure statement produced by the committee, there was minimal adherence to the terms of the contractual agreement by both parties and a budget for the event was not developed,” it said;
7. The report noted that two army personnel were unable to account for an unspecified number of tickets and cash as an unspecified quantity of tickets and cash were stolen from a vehicle belonging to one of them. The unspecified tickets was recorded as an expense and deemed “lost ticket revenue” to the amount of $69,000 on the profit/loss statement for Army Fete 2020 provided by the executive producer;
8. Loss in potential revenue from invitations amounted to $53,800. “The Board quantified the cost of invitations for the VVIP Section using the list of invited guests from CDS and COTTR and determined that the potential loss in revenue amounted to $53,800,” the report noted.
9. Undocumented tickets for Army Fete 2020 may have been produced, as the evidence provided to the Board showed that 711 more tickets were scanned at the gate than were reported. Proceeds from these tickets were unreported totalling $514,700.
ConclusionsAmong the conclusion were that:
• The Regiment wrongly committed funds for initial start-up of Army Fete 2020 that was never recouped;
• The Army Fete was not audited on completion in variance to the contract;
• The executive producer and the producer were unable to identify recoupable expenses to the BOI. Instead, the executive producer identified all his expenses as expenses to the Army Fete account;
• The executive producer indicated that he destroyed records pertaining to Army Fete earlier in 2020 when he closed his office.
In addition, the report noted that Army Fete and VVIP is reportedly still indebted to Ricky Raghunanan for services provided for the provision of infrastructure works.
And, “further investigations will be conducted to ascertain where there was gross negligence in the performance of duties. However, the following activities require sufficient investigation in order to verify that no criminal activities have been conducted during the management of Army Fete by six identified officers”.
https://trinidadexpress.com/newsextra/2 ... d01e6.htmlCountry_Bookie wrote:A lot of the Ministry's budget goes to the army, which has no powers of arrest or any mandate to do anything with regard to the crime situation locally. Well except for pose on street corners with their big guns, because we know how effective that is in curbing crime.
Basically the army is a waste, the last time we needed them was in 1990 , and even then they were practically useless. We might as well do like Costa Rica and get rid of the army and spend those billions on something that actually produces results.
