00:00The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service last December secured a production order to examine the records of 59 companies linked
00:07to 104 individuals that allegedly profited from the ill-fated life sport program that bled taxpayers $440 million.
00:15The High Court Order Director of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs was issued in early December 2025, just
00:22two weeks after the Express and CCN TV6 ran a three-part investigative series last November entitled Life Sport Secrets
00:29Revealed.
00:30In that series, former Ministry of Sport insider Ruth Marchand, who was heavily involved in an ill-fated initiative, gave
00:36a sworn witness statement to the TTPS White Colour Crime Division in 2021 in which she stated she personally witnessed
00:42how government officials, contractors, and criminal elements conspired to rip off the system of $440 million.
00:49Marchand gave a statement to TTPS officers under the Witness Protection Program, where she remains abroad.
00:55In a notarized statement, investigators Marchand, then Acting Director of Physical Education and Sport at the Ministry of Sport, alleged
01:03several phony companies had been set up through which hundreds of millions of dollars were siphoned from the ill-fated
01:09life sport program.
01:10She further alleged that millions more were quietly funneled into the hands of Underwood Elements, money that was effectively handed
01:17on a platter to gang leaders.
01:18It was these suspicious companies that prompted an office of a specialized TTPS unit investigating the case to make an
01:25ex-party application to the High Court for an order to make material available under Section 32 of the Proceeds
01:31of Crime Act, Chapter 1127, to the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.
01:35The application stated that the TTPS needed documents related to, and not limited to, all contracts, payment files, procurement files,
01:43and any miscellaneous documents,
01:45to wit, supporting documents made between the undermentioned persons and or companies and the Ministry of Sport during the period
01:52January 1, 2010 to 31, December 2015.
01:55The Ministry of Sport check registers for the period January 1, 2010 to 31, December 2015, and the Ministry of
02:02Sport vote book or books for the period 1, January 2012 to 31, December 2015.
02:08The High Court judge said the court was satisfied that the conditions for making a production order under Section 32
02:13of the Proceeds of Crime Act, Chapter 1127, have been fulfilled.
02:17The judge ordered that the support ministry produced the said material in hard-copy format, only to the officer for
02:23him to take away, not later than the end of 14 days from the date of the order.
02:28However, high-ranking senior government sources informed TV6 that the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs has since asked for
02:34an extension to facilitate the High Court's directive.
02:37TV6 visited the Ministry of Legal Affairs offices in Portisbury last Wednesday and examined the company's registry to see how
02:43many of these companies were still active.
02:45Of the 59 companies identified in the court document, only 80 remain active, while 14 have been struck off the
02:52register and two were struck off and dissolved.
02:54The remaining 25 were either not found in the system or would have become defunct, employees explained.
03:00Though no one has been charged to date in the ongoing investigation, Sport TT Company successfully brought a claim against
03:06now-deceased Adolphus Daniel and its company, EBM Interact Limited,
03:10in which that company was ordered to repay Sport TT $30 million and added it expensive.
03:16Daniel received $34 million for work that was never done.
03:21Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
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