E-Beam Interact [UNC]

E-Beam Interact [UNC/ PP] Millions lost - Trinidad Express Jul 24, 2014 the Ministry of Sport's LifeSport programme…. conceived by Sport Minister Anil Roberts designed to rehabilitate criminals has spawned massive corruption. About $40 million was spent for vocation training but no work was done. One company, E-Beam Interact Ltd, owned by Adolphus Daniell, was paid $34 million for no work, Central Audit was informed that E-Beam was solely selected mainly because of the company's president/CEO, Adolphus Daniell's track record as an educator with respect to individuals who have struggled academically. The contract amount was agreed at TT $34,000,000 with a planned commencement date of December 6, 2012 and a projected completion date of September 30, 2014. To date that component of the programme has not started. However, the payment of $34,000,000 was made to EBeam. Life Sport Report - Trinidad Express Jul 24, 2014 (i) There were widespread breaches of proper procurement practices; the entire payment of $34 m to EBeam Interact Limited was made notwithstanding that external attorneys advised that there may have been grounds to contest and resist the final payment. 9.13.1 On December 6, 2012, by signed agreement, the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (SporTT) retained the services of EBeam Interact Limited (EBeam) to provide, by way of integrated interactive technology, the numeracy and literacy component to the participants of the LS Programme. The contract amount was agreed at TT $34,000,000.00 with a planned commencement date of December 6, 2012 and a projected completion date of September 30, 2014. To date that component of the programme has not started. However, the payment of $34,000,000.00 was made to EBeam. 9.13.3 According to the contract, it was agreed that SporTT shall pay to EBeam the sum of seventeen million dollars (TT $17,000,000.00) which represented fifty per cent (50%) of the fee, contemporaneously with the signing of the agreement and the remaining fifty per cent (50%) on September 2, 2013. Central Audit confirmed however that the first payment was made by cheque number 2185 dated June 14, 2013 and the second payment by cheque number 7997 dated February 11, 2014. 9.13.4 Ms Dawn Mohan, current Corporate Secretary of SporTT, however stated that since the Numeracy and Literacy Component had not started by EBeam, for which it was contracted, legal advice on whether to pay EBeam the second payment as per the terms of the contract was sought. Two pieces of legal advice were received, one from Ms Lisa Solomon, the then Head of Legal of SporTT and the other from J.D. Sellier & Company. The opinion from J. D Sellier suggested that measures, including arbitration be explored to avoid having to make the payments (appendix 23-1) 23.1.2 Central Audit was informed that E-Beam was sole selected 23.1.3 …The recommendation came from the Permanent Secretary, MOS to the CEO SporTT, the Board of SporTT at a meeting held on March 8, 2013 ratified the decision made on December 6, 2012 to award the contract for the N&LC of the LS Programme to EBeam Interact Limited. (Appendix 18A refers). 23.1.4 … against advice from his Legal Unit and with no change to the MOS draft, the CEO SporTT (Mr John Mollenthiel) signed the agreement. 23.1.5 … he did not consider the suggested changes to the shortcomings of the contract identified by SporTT Legal since he was told that the contract should be loose, 23.2.1 … Mr Adolphus Daniell, President/CEO of EBeam Interact Limited has always maintained that he would start the N&LC of the programme only when all the centres are ready according to the conditions stated in the contract. 23.4.1 It is obvious that SporTT was a party to this contract mainly because the contract was above the authorised limit of the Permanent Secretary, MOS. $17m CHEQUE OUT - Trinidad Express ...six days before SporTT got legal advice to pay Daniell second half of $34m LifeSport contract Aug 4, 2014 The audit into Life-Sport revealed that Daniell was paid $34 million although no work was done. His $34 million payment was the single biggest payment of the programme for no work unearthed by the Central Audit Committee's audit into LifeSport. A brief opinion from SporTT's Legal Department on the options which are available to SporTT with regard to this request for payment of $17 million is also attached. The opinion supports the CEO's recommendation to pay the outstanding $17 million as per the obligations set out in the contract between SporTT and EBeam," he said. Daniell has said he has no intention of returning the money. The board of directors of SporTT are Reynold Bala, Norris Blanc, Nisa Dass, Anyl Gopeesingh, Sabrenah Khayyam, Matthew Quamina, Annan Ramnanansingh, Kent Samlal, Milson Siboo and Harnarine Singh. Attorney: Creed made a scapegoat - Trinidad Express Aug 7, 2014 PETER Taylor, the attorney for Ministry of Sport permanent secretary Ashwin Creed, believes the Finance Ministry's recent audit into the LifeSport programme was "seriously flawed, biased and riddled with procedural irregularities" and as such he has advised his client to take the matter to the court for judicial review. On July 25, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the "immediate" termination of the LifeSport programme, following the tabling of the "Report of the Central Audit Committee on the Comprehensive Audit of the payment system of the LifeSport Programme" Persad-Bissessar said the report would be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commissioner of Police, the Integrity Commission and the head of the Public Service. On July 31, Persad-Bissessar announced that she had accepted Anil Roberts' resignation as Sport Minister over the issue. Taylor said "The Sport company has a board of directors, they have a chief executive officer who reports to the chairman… The permanent secretary cannot direct the board, he can advise, the special purpose company is a legal entity on to itself… If the board sat and said they were paying the money the permanent secretary could not have stopped them….” Taylor said "….. a lot of the documents that were made available to the central audit committee were not included…. The procedure is that when the auditors finish their report they would come back to the ministry and check if there are any corrections any inaccuracies'… They went straight to the Prime Minister with it” How the LifeSport contract went from $12m to $34m - Trinidad Express Aug 9, 2014 On September 4, 2012, Adolphus Daniell, a director of eBeam Interact, submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Sport to teach math and English throughout Trinidad as part of the LifeSport programme.The cost of that two-year programme was $7.5 million for the first year and $4.5 million for the second yeara total of $12 million. Two months later, on November 4, 2012, Daniell again submitted the proposal to the ministry. This time, the cost of the two-year programme was revised to $11 million for the first year and $11 million for the second yeara total of $22 million. There were no material changes to the two proposals titled Proposal for Mathematics and English Language courses for participants at thirty-eight LifeSport centres in Trinidad and Tobago On December 6, 2012, a contract was signed by Daniell, whose registered office is at LP#52 John Street, Montrose, and the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT). The total on the contract was $34 million. The scope of services in the contract was copied straight from Daniells proposal, but there was no justification for the costs According to eBeam, which is distributed by US-based Luidia Inc, Daniells Educational Community Ltd is its sole Trinidad distributor. The Express understands each eBeam device costs under US$1,000. An invoice submitted to the Ministry of Sport by eBeam Interact showed a total cost of all equipment for the LifeSport centres at US$125,590 (TT$797,496.50). EBeam Interact was registered on August 9, 2007, by attorney Allison Eustace Luther Roberts, of Roberts and Company. He is the father of former sport minister Anil Roberts. The directors of the company are Daniell and Gloria Kirton. Central Audit noted that EBeam, played an unusual role in the programme, for example loans were issued to the Ministry of Sport. Staff also involved in the programme indicated that Mr Daniell of EBeam personally interacted with other contractors such as the coordinators, coaches, caterers, etc, and he tried to run the programme as he saw fit. For example, he paid coaches an additional salary from his personal funds and was subsequently reimbursed by the MSYA (Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs); Central Audit was not provided with the approval for the re-payment to EBeam. Daniell's $34 million jiggle - Trinidad Express Oct 7, 2016 Adolphus Daniell acknowledged the work for which he had been paid was not done. His $34 million, after all, is only a part of the $400 million spent on LifeSport over two years under the former People's Partnership administration. To date, there's been no recovery of taxpayers' dollars for that sum spent or no one has yet been brought to justice. Peake's advice, dated November 26, 2014, opined that criminal charges could be pursued against public officers and further suggested a forensic investigation be conducted to determine how civil action could be pursued. The former Partnership government did not act on the advice but the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service did start an investigation into LifeSport. “It should be noted that the budget for literacy and numeracy is exclusively to meet the cost of teachers, quality assurance and the monitoring component. There is no direct cost to EBeam Interact Ltd for supplying these service elements. In addition, the programme costs have been budgeted for Technology equipment and installation. EBeam Interact was registered on August 9, 2007 by attorney Allison Eustace Luther Roberts of Roberts and Company. He is the father of former Sport Minister Anil Roberts. The directors of the company were Daniell and Gloria Kirton. Kirton was removed last year and replace by Kay Daniell. .” Peake's advice “In awarding the $34 million contract to eBeam on a sole select basis the directors of SPORTT acted negligently and/or in breach of their fiduciary duties to SPORTT under section 99(1)(2) of the Companies Act, Chap 81:01 in that they failed to exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent director would have done in comparable circumstances. “The only basis for the award to eBeam was the recommendation of the PS as communicated by the CEO with no indication of the procurement process utilized. This was considered by the Board to be adequate on the apparent basis that the services were not being provided by SPORTT by to the Ministry of SPORTT was the only paying agency. “However, the decision of the Board imposed a legal obligation on SPORTT to pay and ultimately to incur a debt of $34 million, in circumstances where very few services were provided by Ebeam as contemplated by the contract,” Peake noted. Peake said the action “begs the question whether the use of SPORTT for the purpose of this programme (and the EBeam contract in particular) was not simply a device to circumvent the provisions of the Central Tenders Board Act, Chap 71:91 or the Exchequer and Audit Act.” “Wherever contracts exceeded the limits of the Permanent Secretary of others exercising delegated authority with the Ministry, SPORTT was simply utilised as a procurement and paying agency,” she noted. Peake noted that the “recommendation of the PS without any objective or empirical data to suggest that this company was the only or best company or person which could provide this service of that its price was competitive or value for money.” “The board of SPORTT approved the award of the contract based on the recommendation of the PS without more. Further, no care was taken in ensuring that the contract was executed by the CEO of SPORTT with eBeam was vetted or approved by SPORTT's attorneys-at-law so as to adequately protect SPORTT's interest,” she said.