WALTER ALIBEY
Disappointed over government’s refusal to pay the salaries of ex Soca Warriors coach Dutchman Wim Rijsbergen, Oliver Camps, the former president of the T&T Football Federation has agreed to sell a property to clear the debt. His decision comes on the day that the court was expected to rule on whether his properties should be sold to clear a debt of approximately $3.8 million.
Lennox Sankarsingh, legal representative for the T&T Cricket Board, was expected to lobby for an extension on the payment of the funds to Rijsbergen. Attorney Russell Huggins, who represented Camps’ daughter Sandra, presented a promise that something would be sold to erase the debt. She said her father believes it is wrong for the public to pay the debt.
The Camps are hoping that the sale of a property will cover the amount ordered by the court, but Sandra added if the sale did not reach the required amount, they will decide what they should do then. Sandra explained that close to $1 million of the debt owing to Rijsbergen was accumulated through taxes and she is hoping that government can waive this.
“From the total that we were given to pay, about $1 million was accumulated through tax, so I am now hoping government can waive the tax so that we can pay off the bill.”
She recently approached sports minister Darryl Smith who could not provide assistance and will be seeking an audience with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to advance her father’s concerns. She explained that her father expressed his disappointment in the government’s reluctance to clear a bill that they promised to pay.
In 2006/2007, a verbal agreement was made by then Prime Minister Patrick Manning to pay the salaries for the Dutch coach, which was why Camps took the initiative of hiring Rijsbergen. Because of legal complications, the TTFA was registered as a sole proprietor under Camps’ name.
In an effort to assist the former football administrator, president of the T&T Cricket Board Azim Bassarath, on Monday offered to raise close to $400,000 to help pay the bill.
Camps did not want to comment this.
Sandra took a swipe at critics who have been saying that her father benefitted financially from the football federation. “My father did not benefit financially from the TTFF. He went abroad on official business for the federation and he may have allowed people to do things that they should not have done, but my father is an honest man and if I knew that he had benefitted from the TTFF, then I would be the first to say that he should accept the consequences,” she ended.