Thread Title: The TTCB’s "Letterhead" Blockade: Shrouding Executive Pay in Secret While Taking State Funds
I want to share the interaction I am having with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) regarding financial transparency, executive accountability, and how public money is being handled over the past few months.
As many of you know, the TTCB has reportedly not published an external audited financial statement since 2018 and faces a severe backlog of statutory audits. Given this massive gap in oversight, I sent a formal inquiry to the Board requesting a basic piece of factual public information: the total annual remuneration paid to TTCB President Azim Bassarath from 2018 to the present.
The response I received from the TTCB executive office is a masterclass in bureaucratic evasion, no one signed the T&TCB letter .
The TTCB's Defense: "No Letterhead, No Answer"
Instead of providing the figures, the TTCB explicitly refused to engage, stating:
"Any enquiry of this nature must be submitted formally on the relevant organization's letterhead and accompanied by appropriate contact information. Until such time, the TTCB will not engage further on this matter."
They followed this up with a vague warning telling me to ensure I have "necessary documentation to substantiate any claims" to shield myself from legal exposure.
Breaking Down the Corporate Letterhead Fallacy
Let’s look at why this "letterhead defense" is completely legally unsustainable:
- Statutory Status: The TTCB is not a private social club. It is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, specifically the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (Incorporation) Act, 1989 (Act No. 34 of 1989).
- Public Funding: The TTCB is a direct recipient of public taxpayers' funds via The Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) and the Ministry of Sport. Executive pay tied to state-funded entities is a matter of clear public record.
- Citizen Rights: As a private citizen, I am under no legal obligation to hide behind a corporate logo to ask how public funds are spent. The right to look into public records belongs to individual citizens, not just corporations.
The Escalation: The Statutory Clock is Ticking
I gave the TTCB 14 business days to drop the procedural barriers and provide the factual numbers. They chose absolute silence.
Because they refused to engage with a citizen, the matter has now been formally escalated. Today, June 21, 2026, I officially filed a statutory FOIA Form 1 Request and a formal non-compliance complaint with the following oversight bodies:
- The Office of the Ombudsman of Trinidad and Tobago (Triggering an independent investigation)
- The Honorable Phillip Watts, MP (Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs)
- The Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) (Compliance & Communications)
- The Freedom of Information (FOI) Unit
The paper trail is locked in. The TTCB now has a statutory 30-day window under Section 15 of the FOIA to provide the data or answer directly to the Ombudsman and their funding providers.
How can a sporting body claim it represents the public development of cricket while telling citizens they need a corporate letterhead just to see where the funding goes?
I will keep this thread updated as the Ombudsman and the Ministry respond.
Sarge
cc to my Lawyers