Daniel hits back in $34M LifeSport scandal

LifeSport, a brainchild of former Minister of Sport Anil Roberts was found to be fraught with corruption and was shut down by then Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar following an audit conducted by the Ministry of Finance in July 2014.

The programme was supposed to target at-risk youths teaching them various trade skills, sports and an educational aspect headed by Daniel’s eBeam Interact limited.

Although his programme was never implemented, Daniel, in a two and a half hour long session with the media at the Hyatt Regency yesterday, laid blame squarely on the Sport Company which he said failed to provide tools essential for the programme to be conducted.

A fiery Daniel threatened an avalanche of lawsuits against radio, television and print journalists and media companies for defaming him and claiming he collected $34 million for no work done.

The former St Mary’s College teacher and head of Daniel Educational Institute said that for the duration of his involvement in LifeSport, his main interest was ensuring the nation got value for its money. He added that when he noticed SPORTT was not meeting eBeam Interact’s requests to get the programme on stream, he wrote to SPORTT ’s then Chairman Sebastien Paddington on April 28, 2014, warning that he was contemplating suing to get his educational programme off the ground.

In that letter, Daniel accused SPORTT and/or its agents of continuing “to obstruct eBeam from beginning teaching at LifeSport venues by failing to have the required prerequisites in place”, and, “breaking its promises and failing to cooperate with eBeam.” Daniel added in the letter, “It has become ironical that the party which has already been paid in full is the one that is pursuing the other party which made the payment.” Stunningly, Daniel said he was not paid a single for his services, operating completely as a volunteer and out of his love for the country.

He later clarified to Newsday that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as president of eBeam Interact Limited.

Questioned about his relationship with Roberts, Daniel denied having any interaction with the ex-Minister who resigned amid reports of rampant corruption and wastage in LifeSport under his tenure following the audit. Daniel, however, admitted being friends with Anil’s father Al Roberts was worked with eBeam, handling legal matters.

Daniel said he also visited Al’s home a few times but never spoke to Anil, even while running a $34 million programme started by the ex-Sports Minister.

In his presentation yesterday, which included a five-minute animation teaching step-by-step how to solve quadratic equations, Daniel said more than $34 million was spent in developing the programme which he said has completely gone to waste. He added that he entered into a five-year deal with an international partner to assist in the programme and is still incurring the cost of that contract which runs until 2018. Questioned later about the identity of the international firm, Daniel refused to reveal the company’s name. He also was not willing to produce a copy of the contract, stating it was a “private and confidential document between two parties.” Defending his character vehemently, Daniel boasted, “I don’t think I should be defending myself.

My work in education spans the Caribbean and across the world.” He was joined by traffic engineer Dr Ray Furlonge who showered Daniel with praise for his style of teaching which helped him succeed despite struggling academically as a teen. Also there to support Daniel was Cedric Cole who worked for eBeam providing technical expertise for the implementation of their programme in LifeSport. He lamented though that although some centres reached some level of preparedness, most did not as they lacked basic amenities such as water and electricity.

Asked whether the Sport Company can access the animation learning videos conceptualised for LifeSport which were not used, he emphatically said no, further explaining that its intellectual property was owned by eBeam and not their former client.

Daniel scoffed at the thought that $34 million was a significant figure for the development aspect of his initiative, declaring that it was grossly inadequate and less than what was spent by eBeam.

“$34 million is a jingle in a piggy bank. That is no money. $34 million is noise,” he declared. He provided documents showing tracking numbers of items (equipment) shipped for the LifeSport programme which were stored at a warehouse in Diego Martin. He wondered aloud what happened to these items since its arrival over three years ago. He said he welcomed a Forensic audit into the LifeSport with “the people that deprived the country of LifeSport to face the consequences for it.” Daniel stressed that the initiatives which he wanted to introduce would have eradicated a number of irregularities in the programme.