Steelbands without balls, Scrotums already sold

  

All that remains is just a name. And a dirty one, at that.

For  President Keith Diaz has delivered Pan Trinbago, by the balls, to the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

 

Pan Trinbago President Keith Diaz

And the National Carnival Commission (NCC) is the vice grip that will hold the steel band body  by the testicles  according to the draconian terms of a Memorandum of Agreement  (MOA) which was signed and sealed- but never delivered to the membership- never mind that substantive issues are yet to be determined by the Court of Appeal.

  Not only has the President weaseled his way out of a deep hole  into which he sunk with the weight of allegations of financial impropriety, but  the MOA  which will be in effect  until 2021 binds   the incoming President- and executive of Pan Trinbago making them redundant for  the remaining term of this  government

It’s the boldest play, yet, in hostile takeover bid which started under the current People’s National Movement (PNM) regime when the interest groups (representing Pan, Mas and Calypso) were absent from NCC Board meetings.

Still  there is light in the tunnel for some as the terms of the takeover- as outlined below-  are still up in the air pending the NCC's appeal of  a court order by Justice Vashist Kokaram, who, in a 73 page judgement  overturned a decision by Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby Dolly instructing the NCC to manage the gate receipts for Carnival 2017’s pan event.

 Kokaram said it was illegal for the NCC to retain the gate receipts as it breached an almost 20-year-old settled policy and practice, set out by a 1997 Cabinet decision, for PanTrinbago to control the receipt of tickets and retain the revenue.

Never mind that.

 With the steel band fraternity at its most vulnerable and while the large bands work together to bring some life NCC  drove a stake through the heart of Pan Trinbago.

And while the “new model” is aimed at eliminating fraud by any Pan Trinbago executive it paves the way for NCC to benefit from the largesse that could turn things topsy-turvy when the meagre spoils are being shared.

  Indeed the backup plan for full government control of Pan Trinbago was to install former Port of Spain Mayor Keiron Valentine ( Manager of both Newtown Playboyz and Hadco Phase Two) as the President as Valentine was reported to be in the process of putting together his slate- and manifesto.

“ A new model will be established for the allocations  and disbursements of approved financial assistance funds by the NCC to Pan Trinbago, the quantum and timing of which allocations and disbursements shall be determined  by the NCC and the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in their sole collective discretion, utilizing two separate disbursement channels, one event-based and the other organization based,” the Terms of Agreement states, setting the tone for the  punishment at the altar of political expediency for the next three years.

Still hanging in the balance  is the prize money and performance fees for Panorama 2018 which steelbands fear will be drastically reduced as the NCC plays out

 

Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly and NCC Chairman Colin Lucas

 “The NCC will be responsible for all financial matters relating to the events, including but not limited to approving the respective budgets, printing and selling tickets, selecting and entering into contracts with the providers of goods and services, performers, issuing payment for goods and services etc. All invoices issued by such providers of goods and services, performers etc. shall be made out to the NCC,” the MOA which was signed by  Diaz and Treasurer Andrew Salvador, without ratification from the Central Executive and unknown to the membership.

The NCC, in the future, if the agreement holds, will provide event based finding “in relation to carnival and steel pan events including but not limited to Panorama and other steelpan even approved by the NCC and Pan Trinbago. The NCC  will take direct financial and operational control of the events,” ruling out the independence of thought for Pan Trinbago.

 And guess what the spoils will be shared 80-20.

 “The NCC will contract with Pan Trinbago on an al basis for the provision by Pan Trinbago of services (creative and technical) necessary to implement the NCC's plan for the events in consideration of a management fee equivalent to twenty per cent (20%) of the gate receipts derived therefrom. The remaining 80% of the revenue from gate receipts shall be retained by the NCC and used to offset any incurred expenditure in relation to the events. The balance of the revenue from gate receipts, AFTER the payment of the said management fee and the offsetting of the expenses incurred in relation to the events, shall be paid to Pan Trinbago".

 Pan Trinbago will be given a subvention that “ will be determined annually by Cabinet in its sole discretion after receiving representations from the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, NCC and Pan Trinbago.

  “Pan Trinbago will provide any and all financial information as requested by the NCC” and “ shall submit a Monthly Financial report to the NCC setting out both its expenditure and its earnings during the subject month,” the MOA says.

And if they fail to comply, all funding shall cease.

About the MOA

“We met with the NCC Chairman, Winston “Gypsy” Peters and he decided that he did not want to get involved in personal affairs and call a  meeting with the President as a private person to see how to work things out.  "We were to meet again with CEO Colin Lucas who came with this document.  "He had two copies and he gave us one. 

"We asked for a copy and they said no because it was not complete. So we said it did not make sense talking of the document was not complete.  "The following Monday they sent this  copy to the  Pan Trinbago  office and we  forwarded this  to our lawyer who gave us advice.

 "The document is not binding on anything and we were advised not to get involved. Instead, we wanted to get a commitment from NCC to withdraw the appeal where  Justice Kokaram ruled that we should get gates etc.

  "The Constitution says the Central Executive has to ratify the document.

  "The  High Court has given us control of Panorama and Gate receipts and the NCC appealed that so they cannot take any action," said Michael “Scobie “Joseph: PRO Pan Trinbago

  

         Bacchanal and Chaos = Diaz and Forteau

 President Keith Diaz flew out of Trinidad and Tobago the day after an appearance at a circus under the guise of an Extra Ordinary General Meeting. 

The first step towards the election of a new executive that was carded for September 16th was catspraddled when the President failed to get a quorum at a meeting which he called at the Communication Worker’s Union Hall on Thursday evening.

On what was supposed to be nomination day in Trinidad, Saturday, August 25th, Diaz will be at the London Panorama with his return date set for September.

He “gave the warrant to appoint to Andrew Salvador ( Treasurer, who along with Diaz signed the MOA with NCC) to coordinate the business acting as the Chief Executive Officer.   

 But what transpired at the meeting?  
In the first instance, there was so much bad blood that the fractured executive could not even act in a manner it gain the respect of the membership that was present.

“There were two factions on stage and they did not get the seating protocol correct,” Gregory Lindsay, Manager of St James based Power Stars and a foremost member of the Concerned Individuals for Pan (CIP).

Gregory Lindsay (left) with Aquil Arrindel.

 “The Secretary Richard Forteau was sitting where the   President was supposed to be and was flanked by the External Relations Officer (ERO) Darren Sheppard.

 “Other officers were seated next to  Diaz and I asked through the membership that the officers make that change.

 “They acquiesced to my request and went back to regular seating order with the Secretary and Treasurer to the left and right of the President.

 "But the business of the meeting discussions about the triennial convention and election never got off the ground’ because the quorum could not be determined.

"We asked the Secretary to produce a list of bands that were financial and he said that while there are 224 bands only 110 are financial.

 “They could not produce the list when asked for it and  he responded by saying  “come to the office in the morning to get the list.”

   “That started a furore that never ended.

 “The 88 bands represented there did not make the quorum- which was 110.  But it went on not as an official meeting but as a discussion.

 ‘Diaz made a number of moves to make that meeting legal with the 88 bands.

 Earl Morris of Belmont HiLarks moved a motion- seconded by Marie Toby-  (Chairman of the Tobago region) to legalize the meeting, but there were a number of dissenting views.

  ‘It was agreed that using that approach was ultra vires and that they burnt us in the court already, so a decision was taken to rescind that motion.

 "Marie Toby rescinded her secondment of the motion and Morris rescinded too so no motion put forward to accept the 88 bands as the legal quorum.

 "Then they decided to postpone for a continuation so that at the next meeting 88 will be a quorum. 

" I used the opportunity to clarify a matter in which the ERO Sheppard claimed in a pre-action protocol letter that I slandered him.

" I asked the President whether the ERO  collected TT$95,000  for his role as Events Manager and he said that it was true. He also said that  Fusion Steel got TT$25,000 from the Greens and TT$15,000 for  Junior Panorama.

 " Naturally, I asked Sheppard why is he taking me to court to answer allegations that the president validated as truth.

 “There was no substantial business. This means that nomination for election of officers slated for Saturday at 4 pm won’t happen because the purpose of the meeting yesterday was to pass the nomination date.

 “As for Panorama Fees owed, there was no word and the Memorandum with NCC was never tabled, Instead a copy was circulated among the membership by Diaz’s nemesis, Richard Forteau.

  “There was a lot of consternation from delegates, a clear indication that membership would like the executive to go," Lindsay said.

 "No Donkey Head"

  Candace Andrews Brumant, Captain of  2018 Panorama Champions BP Renegades attended the meeting and gave her position:

9

   ‘If I am on the Executive and I have a problem with the way things are going I would resign and step down- would not pull aside and fight.

  “Everybody is power hungry.. they are holding on and playing tug of war.

    “It is so bad we are fine like chilibibi..or splinters, as they would say.

    “I  listened to everyone and  then I told went on to say that  the wrong practice has been happening all these years, we’ve  been having meetings without a quorum

  Mow its problem..but we have to start doing the right thing somewhere.

 Constitutionally the meeting cannot go won without a quorum.

 Everybody coming to microphone to say step down.

  “The executive has less than a month in office. ..they are on the way out.

 If the whole membership so dissatisfied, it is clear they won be voted back.

 Who are we going to put there to take it forward? That is the big question.

  There’s backbiting on the floor, about who wants to be President before we come together and select the right candidate to take it forward.’ 

    Corporate T&T do not want donkey head after this Executive mash up the whole thing.

   This is an opportunity to start over-

 Six people want to run for President... out of the six, there are only two good candidates.

  People are thinking of self, not the organization.

    You cannot be an Education Officer- and you cannot write or be President and you don't know the right protocols.

 ‘ After I spoke at the meeting people came up to me to shake my hands and say they are supporting me for President.

   You don't have to be the President-. I am willing to work with anyone who comes in. If I am not the  Captain I will not stop doing work for my band.”

  Even the Chairmen of the Regions are standing up and fighting Pan Trinbago but the regions are not better

 Northern is one of the worst in all the regions.  Everybody is greedy,, I say and I  don't powder it up.

  “We won the Panorama and I want a million dollars  I don't want less than a million.

   Single Pan bands were paid the same amount they got in 2017 so they cannot come to tell me I am getting less than a million.

 "That is a serious court.

  They were not supposed to play anybody before anybody else but we all know that come "election time, single pans will jam for  Diaz.

"Worst Pan Trinbago meeting"

“I  sat down for two and half hours for them to decide what makes a quorum, then a motion was moved and withdrawn. I had things to do and I got up and left.

 It was the worst Pan Trinbago meeting I ever attended.

  Nothing about Panorama fees.

 What is going on with the election?

 Nothing on the agenda was discussed. 

 Somebody is pissing on my back and calling it rain.

 I am too young for this.
Marcus Ash,  Secretary Eastern Region of Pan Trinbago. 

Part 2 : Randolph Burroughs: Exposes foreign currency racket, informs US on Chadee

Randolph Burroughs  displays seized firearms

This is just the second in the four-part series, the voice of Randolph Burroughs, the legendary Police Commissioner (1978-1984), explains, in his words, how the Ministry of Finance (perhaps unwittingly) the  banks along with  parts of the local business sector profited from the drug trade and crippled  his  effectiveness  and by extension, the TT Police Service.

The excerpt is from his unpublished biography which chronicles, in detail, how he was framed to be removed from office and which also, through the cases he worked and solved as a detective, chronicles TT’s crime history.

Blows the whistle on Foreign Currency Racket:

     ...  Money Laundering Takes Root in T&T

"In May 1983, I headed a party of police officers which raided the home of Dole Chadee (NanKissoon Boodram) and we found a quantity of illicit drugs.

More importantly, we came across a letter sent to him by a Colombian national who was then known as a top man involved in cocaine trafficking into the USA.

Drug Kingpin Dole Chadee

He was asking Chadee, (who was convicted for murder and executed by hanging in June 1999) to join forces with his operation.

I had that letter and other information sent to the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Port of Spain, Mr A. Don Bramante.

The Embassy subsequently contacted us and informed that the Colombian national was arrested on board a vessel off the Florida Coast in May 1978.

The vessel was found to be transporting some 112 tons of marijuana.

The Embassy also disclosed that the man was charged with the offence but jumped bail and returned to Colombia.

It was around that time that the foreign currency racket took root in the country.

I had always asserted that since we did not plant crops and our currency is not accepted in the producing countries, that local financial institutions were involved in the best money making rackets in town.

And I had also predicted that public officials—including politicians, judicial officers and other influential persons in society- would become tarnished.

To me, it was crystal clear that some of them were already involved.

By the late 1970’s I had become painfully aware that a number of top local businessmen, who had been denied licences to carry firearms, had taken to buying illegal weapons for their protection.

So it seemed only natural that several raids were carried out on such persons residing in the posh Goodwood Park area..an activity that was tantamount to digging my own grave as it turned out.

Since my retirement, I had time to reflect on how these VIPs could have helped to create my downfall.

Some of them had previously been involved in smuggling activities.

I am satisfied —  and I will go down saying so — that some of these people became involved in cocaine trafficking because of the huge profit margins it offered.

They already had contacts established in high places through which they could easily secure foreign exchange.

Theirs was a white-collar crime that capitalized on obtaining foreign currency from financial institutions, ostensibly to make legal purchases, which was used instead of buy cocaine.

The whole system was legalized in the 1981 National Budget  when a new method of obtaining currency from the Central Bank, instead created loopholes for fraudulently getting it,

This one is still referred to as the EC-O Racket.

Importers were required to obtain prior approval of EC-O Forms seeking the release of foreign exchange to purchase imported merchandise.

They would apply for the money after orders had been placed and the goods were shipped from the country of origin.

A new dimension was brought into the picture, however.

It was made mandatory for the Ministry of  Industry, Trade and Commerce to approve the forms before they reached the Central Bank.

After this measure was introduced the cocaine trade really thrived.

Many businessmen who had easy access to foreign exchange would sell it back to drug dealers at twice the rate they would pay for it.

Many such traders ended up with hefty profits, and so they started setting up dummy companies to hide their tracks.

The tentacles of money laundering were only just starting to get hold of the financial system.

Inflated invoices were able to pass easily.

Once you had the approval of the Trade Ministry, “business fix” as Trinidadians like to say.

Even in instances where huge amounts were deposited into bank accounts, bank managers did not ask questions.

Once they got the business, they were happy.

Some racketeers possessed copies of official Central Bank stamps from the Trade Ministry, and this gave them even easier access to the US dollars that the cocaine suppliers craved.

 But it is not to say that the politicians were blissfully unaware of the networking that was creeping into the legitimate financial system.

And, strangely, I was to learn the extent of the currency racket during an afternoon meeting called at the office of the then Prime Minister, Dr Eric Williams and attended by Melvyn De Souza (then Minister of Finance) and  Victor Bruce., the Central Bank Governor from 1969-1984.

The Late Victor Bruce

The meeting was called by Dr Williams following the discovery that a local businessman, in the Syrian Community, had obtained large sums of US dollars on the pretext that it was to pay for a shipment of horse medicine.

The amount of money requested did not correspond with the needs of the local horse racing industry, however, and the government was suspicious that fraud was used.

As a result of the meeting, I detailed Superintendent Hugh Roach of the Fraud Squad to serve as Special Investigator in this and other cases with respect to major transactions involving financial institutions.

He was to report directly to me, as Commissioner and to Bruce, the Central Bank Governor.

In a bid to get to the bottom of what turned out to be an even bigger racket than we had estimated, a number of top businessmen, including the late motorcar magnate, Bolan Amar, were charged under the Exchange Control Act for taking money out of the country.

For, in addition to supplying Roach with a team of detectives to systematically investigate the case of fraud, the Customs Department was also assigned to cover the Piarco International Airport exit.

They intercepted and searched a lot of passengers during that time, and many citizens arrested for such transgressions were forced to answer to the courts.

But it was not all plain sailing for the investigators..especially Roach.

He and his family fell victim to a spate of terrorist tactics and telephone threats that were clearly intended to scare him off.

First, his guard dogs at the government quarters he occupied near the Police Mounted Branch Headquarters on Long Circular Road, St James, was poisoned by persons unknown.

And later, a portion of the home was firebombed. However, this did not dissuade him from pressing on relentlessly.

In fact, he was still on the case when I proceeded on accumulated vacation leave in 1983..more than two years after the investigation had been initiated by Dr Williams, shortly before he died.

Up until then cocaine users and importers had remained a select group.

Many of those who became involved did so because of the easy access to foreign exchange which the EC-O system provided, and the big profits that beckoned.

It seemed to me at the time that Central Bank Governor Victor Bruce was turning a blind eye to this.

In fact, on one occasion, I remember him ordering us to return some foreign exchange we had seized from the Woodbrook home of a well known Syrian businesswoman.

So, by the time he died, years later, under strange circumstances in far-off Sierra Leone, it was being alleged in many quarters that he had protected many Syrian and French Creole businessmen who were involved in the racketeering and drug trafficking—some of them were reported to be “Lodge” members like himself.

Although the police tried to crack the high society network of white collar crime we were dealing with, those involved continued to flourish because of the protection they got from the political, judicial and financial authorities. Although the initial investigation was botched I was somewhat surprised when, shortly after I left for Miami in late 1983, taking my wife, Sheila, for Medical treatment, the new police administration suddenly transferred Roach out of the CID and into the uniformed section of the Police Service.

He subsequently made several complaints about the way he was treated, believing it to be a clear case of victimization.

As a result, he became very disenchanted with the Police Service and later retired.

Regrettably, the career of a first-class police officer had ended on a sour note so that corruption could continue."
The end.

Coming Up Part 3: Politicians press the panic button

The above was first published on December 5th 2005, in a special edition of the TT Mirror, with permission from his son Edison Burroughs,.

 This is being republished against the backdrop of Gary Griffith’s appointment as top cop and his threats to become what can only be the 21st-century version of the late Randolph Burroughs TC.

 At the age of 66 years, Burroughs died in October 1996, after the entire biography, (which I worked on with the late Mirror Editor Keith Shepherd) was completed before he passed on.

Randolph Burroughs Speaks: Predicting T&T Crime Chaos

This is the voice of Randolph Burroughs, the legendary Police Commissioner (1978-1984) as recorded in an unpublished biography which not only chronicles, in detail, how he was framed to be removed from office but gives an unprecedented insight into Trinidad and Tobago’s crime history. On December 5th 2005, in a special edition of the T&T Mirror, with permission from his son Edison Burroughs, we published excerpts which I will reproduce here in a four-part series. It is timely because it gives a perspective on crime in Trinidad and Tobago, explains how drug trafficking and money laundering and the foreign currency racket took root and most importantly details how the politicians -who ignored his calls for help to deal with the growing drug trade- eventually engineered his removal from office.

The Chief, as he was fondly referred to, often told anyone who visited his home at Pinewood Gardens, Petit Valley that the Office of Commissioner of Police would never be the same again.

This is being republished against the backdrop of Gary Griffith’s appointment as top cop and his threats to become what can only be the 21st-century version of the late Randolph Burroughs TC.
At the age of 66 years, Burroughs died in October 1996, after the entire biography, (which I worked on with the late Mirror Editor Keith Shepherd) was completed

Part One: Narcotics Squad in Cocaine Trade

 National Security Minister John Donaldson knew about it

Around the start of 1984, I suddenly realized that my concern and fight against the growing narcotics trade had made me something of a nemesis for many people who appeared to be decent and respectable.
 Only later did I become aware that those involved in it would have done anything to get me out of the way..including members of the Narcotics Squad. At the time that it was being played out around me, however, I just could not put my finger on the web of deceit that was being spun.
We continued to arrest violators at Piarco International Airport mostly trying to leave the country with marijuana and cocaine concealed on their person or in their luggage.

But there was little evidence of people using the airport to bring in drugs.

This gave rise to the suspicion that Trinidad and Tobago was a dealer’s haven as well as a transhipment point for cocaine.

It meant that our miles and miles of unprotected coast were being used to the fullest advantage by the drug barons.

By this time I had worked out that US Currency was the mainstay of the thriving drug trafficking business

This was easy to deduce, as none of the countries we dealt with in the cocaine trade- Colombia and Venezuela- were aligned with our domestic currency.

And, this was compounded when hand in hand with the drugs trade, more sophisticated weapons started appearing and there was a steep rise in drug-related crime.

Even though we mounted an operation we codenamed FAN -Firearms, Ammunition and Narcotics- we were unable to make significant inroads into the spate of violent, armed robberies that suddenly became the order of the day, or arrest some of the big importers that our informers fingered. 

After all, we had to catch them in the act— and in possession of drugs.

Armed robberies are a natural offshoot of the firearms and narcotics trade.

So while we wanted to get at the financiers and the originators, we also had to keep some control over their careless, wanton foot soldiers who were not averse to blazing paths of death and destruction.

Meanwhile, we kept getting leads and information that showed how widespread the drug tentacles had reached and that kept us on our toes as the scourge kept turning up in different parts of the country.

For example, we discovered that six nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, two Cubans and two Venezuelans, operating out of an Indian village on the banks of the Orinoco River had established a thriving arms and ammunition trade in the Erin-Chatham-Icacos areas of South-West Trinidad.

Working together with Inspector Pedro Meza of the Tucupita Police, the local police were able to arrest some members of that ring.

Meza and I later collaborated and discovered that six Trinidadians had set up a similar camp on our Blue River at the El Socorro Road extension (across the highway).

In addition to arms and ammunition, they also trafficked in drugs.

Furthermore, in South Trinidad, we found that a Colombian connection had been brought in.

A Savonetta woman was the “Kingpin” in this gang.

Her son-in-law, a Colombian national who worked as an engineer at the Ministry of Works in Trinidad, looked over things on behalf of his home cartel which had three boats docking at Claxton Bay with cocaine merchandise every 15 days.

One night we got lucky and arrested two crew members of one of the boats.

They were held at a San Fernando nightclub with over TT$300,000 worth of cocaine in their possession…probably waiting for a transaction to take place.

I also learnt that a Customs Officer operating out of its Preventative Branch and the proprietor of a haberdashery store on Henry Street were also involved in a similar fishy business.

The bossman held several banking accounts outside the country, supplied nationals of Venezuela with foreign exchange and issued cheques that were to be cashed overseas.

I passed all this and other information to the then Minister of National Security, John Donaldson, in an official memo.

John Donaldson (left) and Burroughs.

I further noted that the Godfather of the Henry Street operation was a wealthy Colombian living in that country, owned hotels in both his country and Miami and was in the process of establishing a business connection with a Woodbrook businesswoman (who was alive at the time of writing). The long and short of it is that I was not twiddling my thumbs on the ever-worsening drug situation, as the story still goes.

I even called for a meeting with Victor Cockburn, the Comptroller of Customs, Commander Jack Williams of the Coast Guard and Signoret of the Civil Aviation Department.

We were under an external threat by land, sea and air, as I recommended that an amalgamation of the Police, Customs and Immigration, Coast Guard, Regiment and Civil Aviation people and the air wing of the National Security Ministry should embark on a joint plan of action.

At the time it seemed strange to me that some ten years after I warned the People’s National Movement (PNM) administration that local drug lords were setting up shop these people had flourished so much.

 Some people accuse me of all sorts of drug-related crimes but the record of those years will show that I was always involved in fighting the National Union of Freedom Fighters (NUFF) and other terrorist gangs, solving the Malik murders and generally pinch hitting wherever and whenever a big crisis arose.

While I was pressing on with the job, however, there had been no political will to wage a concerted battle against the treacherous trade in cocaine, especially.

In addition to doing my work I spoke to thousands of school children and other young people on the danger of drugs. I only now realize how threatening I must have sounded to some big people in society when I spoke at such gatherings

I was always like a voice in the wilderness even when I was telling people that drugs were exchanged by criminals with easy access to huge sums of money supporting an underworld economy that was bigger than the gross national product of many developing nations.

I also noted the distinct possibility that persons of high social standing could be corrupted by drug money and that public officials could also be taken in by bribery.

I could clearly see that it was a bigger problem than I could handle.

It was out of my hands.

And I also realized that the entire criminal justice system that existed in the country needed to be upgraded dramatically!

Part Two: Foreign Currency Racket ...how money laundering took root.