Another Trinidad Minister Resigns

Former Trinidad & Tobago Sports Minister Anil Roberts

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Aug. 1, 2014: A third minister in the Kamla Persad Bissessar administration in Trinidad & Tobago has resigned amid scandal.

Persad Bissessar Thursday said she had accepted the resignation of Sports Minister Anil Roberts following the release of an audit into alleged financial mismanagement of a youth athletics program called LifeSport.

The initiative by Roberts was intended to help young men avoid a life of crime through sports. But an audit has found that coordinators may have been involved in criminal activity themselves. Auditors believe they have uncovered widespread fraud. Police and prosecutors are currently reviewing the matter.

The Trinidad & Tobago PM in a statement said she is “disillusioned, disappointed and distressed by the level of deception and dishonesty” of the program launched in 2012.

Dr. Rupert Griffith, the Minister of Science and Technology had been appointed to act in the interim

Trinidad & Tobago’s sports minister has stepped down amid an investigation into alleged financial mismanagement of a youth athletics program.

Roberts’ resignation comes on the heels of the resignation of the country’s ministers of Social Development  and Tourism. Tourism Minister Chandresh Sharma resigned in March after allegations that he assaulted a woman and  Dr Glen Ramadharsingh, T&T’s Social Development  minister resigned in March as well following allegations of assault on a Caribbean Airlines flight.

Last year, Jack Warner, the country’s national security minister, also resigned after a regional football group’s ethics panel accused him and another official of fraud.