Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) President Nigel Hinds said yesterday that he will not pursue legal avenues to acquire the outstanding monies allegedly owed to him by the National Sports Commission (NSC).
Hinds and the NSC are currently at loggerheads over the NSC’s objection to refunding Hinds eight million dollars of what he said were his personal funds, utilized to aid in the refurbishing of the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall for the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) U16 Championships held here in July.
Over $91m were used to renovate and stage the championships and according to reports, the Ministry of Education donated $20m, the Guyana Lotto Company also donated $20m while corporate sponsorship amounted to eight million dollars.
In an invited comment Hinds, who resigned from the NSC on August 12th told Stabroek Sports that he will not use the legal route in an attempt to receive the funds:” I will not be going that route.
“I am convinced that I will get back the monies. It’s just that in the NSC, some members are more concerned with the spotlight and not doing the hard-work.”
Director of Sports and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NSC Christopher Jones when asked to comment on the matter said “It is the engaging the attention of sports commissioners”.
Asked if his resignation from the NSC directly stemmed from the failure of the entity to refund the outstanding monies, Hinds said “Absolutely!
“They [NSC] owe me eight million dollars. When I sent in the bill to be repaid, I was told that I needed a full financial statement which would require me providing information on all the monies received,” he told this newspaper.
“I could no longer see myself being a part of an important body who is vital to fuel the development of the sport and acting in this manner.
“The issue for me is that we had a meeting on July 19th and was told to send in the information and they will pay as quickly as possible,” he added.
Hinds said following another meeting he was not in attendance, it was indicated the money would not be refunded without a financial statement.
“They have no standing to ask me for that [financial statements], I gave them and I resigned. It’s not like the Government asked me for a financial statement because that would be different. The NSC gave not one cent and they [Government] have not asked me a financial statement even though I provided it.”
Hinds said that statements were sent to Ministers Rupert Roopnaraine and Nicolette Henry.
A source close to the National Sports Commission, yesterday said: “Clearly the NSC owes Nigel Hinds the individual nothing. The GABF hosted the CBC games not the NSC or the Government.
“The Government and the NSC lent financial support for the staging of the games. The GABF has no funds and that by itself is an indictment on his part because he is the President of the GABF.
“Apparently, he used his personal funds and it is really the GABF that should refund him. If you work at Stabroek News and use your personal funds to conduct business on behalf of Stabroek News, then it is Stabroek News that should refund you. All he was asked to do is provide audited financial statements,” the source added.
