The FIFA Normalisation Committee set to take over the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association will find themselves without a dollar to do so after a court order gave former accountant, Kendall Walkes, the power to empty the organisation’s accounts in lieu of moneys owed.
According to reports, the TTFA accounts stand at TT$300,000 while Walkes is owed a little more than TT$5 million.
Walkes attorney, Melissa Roberts-John, had said on Tuesday that the movement of the funds was awaiting the court’s registrar’s signature but that that had been delayed because of the smaller staff at work due to attempts to stave off the spread of COVID-19.
While the amount is but a fraction of what is owed, Walkes’ attorney believes a message has been sent.
“It is nothing much, but every drop fills the bucket,” Roberts-John told T&T website Wired868.
“It sends a message to the TTFA because I don’t think they want all their line of creditors to do what we did.”
While the TTFA will regain power over its accounts once Walkes has emptied it, his attorney indicated that there could be more garnishings if the organisation does not negotiate repayment of the balance of the debt.
“Now, we will write the TTFA requiring payment for the outstanding balance. If nothing comes of that, we can seek a further order,” said Roberts-John.
There has been no response from the TTFA on the issue after FIFA ordered the organisation’s board to vacate offices and appointed a Normalisation Committee to sort out its financial affairs.
Even without the FIFA takeover, the TTFA’s offices were closed as part of social distancing methods to fight the spread of COVID-19 and paused the training sessions of all national teams.
Still, Roberts-John feels the TTFA’s response has been too slow.
“We wrote them on 21 February 2020 with our proposal and they acknowledged receipt on 27 February and said they will revert to me once they have a figure in mind. And that was their last response,” said Roberts-John.
“[…] We have heard nothing about our proposal since, which doesn’t surprise me anymore. But we are still willing to negotiate—that has not been taken off the table.”