Government ready to step in to save local basketball |11 March 2020

The SBF executive committee

While it is the government’s policy not to be directly involved in the daily running of local sports, the recent fiasco involving the basketball federation has reached a point that the state will have to intervene as there is still something awry with the sport’s regulatory body.

Being the main financial contributors to sports, the government, which acts as facilitator generally, allows national sporting bodies to govern their own organisations and oversee their sports.

While some sports organisations did not live up to legal requirements in many areas, the government is taking it as its responsibility to find out some countermeasures from the balance point between developing sports and satisfying popular needs and making sports a healthy and sustainable activity.

With local basketball on hold, the National Sports Council (NSC), under the instruction of the department of youth and sports, is planning on hosting the traditional national basketball league which is normally the responsibility of the Seychelles Basketball Federation (SBF).

In a special meeting held on Saturday, the department of youth and sports in partnership with the NSC and the Office of the Registrar gave their position on the ongoing scenario which is keeping players and fans away from the newly renovated Victoria Gymnasium.

The gathering held at the auditorium of the Seychelles Football Federation at Maison Football was a chance for all SBF members, including executive members of registered clubs and players, to discuss ways and means on how to try and come up with options to bring basketball back on its feet in 2020.

Basketball has been non-existent at competitive level locally for almost a year now, after the SBF was suspended for fraudulent financial report and mismanagement of funds.

Confirmation of such mismanagement first surfaced during the federation’s annual general meeting held at the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) conference room on Bois de Rose Avenue last year and from then on, various proposals were suggested to try and solve the situation, but to date, no remedy has been found.

From the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles (ACCS) for a full scale investigation regarding an approximate R1.1 million liability, the file is now on the desk of the Attorney General.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Registrar has confirmed that due to the amount of time already given, the ‘struck off’ process will be inevitable.

Being the last resort, the SBF has been advised to come up with an immediate solution, all in the spirit of sports and also for the sanity of the executive members who will be personally held reliable, even after the possible dissolution of the executive committee.

How it all started

It was at the federation’s annual general meeting last year that financial statements given by treasurer Benny Gertrude, after being audited by Moustache and Associates caught the eyes of some of the members, as it featured several inconsistencies.

The executive members were questioned and the members present unanimously rejected the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018.

The members were concerned about some huge sums missing from the report, as well as some suspicious transactions, including transfers and mysterious expenses.

After being challenged by the audience, the SBF acknowledged that it does have a huge debt and that it was not included in the report, while it tried its utmost best to try and justify the fishy transactions.

From then on, a new saga was unveiled, involving the Office of the Registrar and other authorities.

Pending investigation, basketball is now dead, while the SBF has limited time to come up with immediate solution.

In 2018, with the aim of ensuring the efficient running of its programmes and the game of basketball as a whole, the SBF made several amendments to its constitution and bye-laws, a move which proved inefficient as later during the same year, precisely during the Indian Ocean Club Championship (IOCC), most of the irregularities were recorded.

This includes a huge debt, false financial statements and missing funds.

The mishap is clearly against Rule 10 of the newly amended constitution which states – under Books and Inspection A. – The Treasurer shall keep proper accounts and record of all financial and related matters of the federation and shall in respect of each financial year, prepare a statement of accounts in such form as the members at an AGM may resolve.

The constitution also states that the treasurer shall control the financial administration of the federation, supervise the current account of income and expenditure, draw up the budget together with the executive management, ensure the proper implementation of the budget and also present the complete statements of accounts to the general assembly.

It is worth noting that after the debt was made public, SBF president Terry Celeste said all throughout the IOCC preparation, the federation had the backing of the NSC and the impression he had was that the council was to be directly involved in the budgeting side of the competition.

But he however added that no formal agreement was made and that no confirmation document was ever signed.

When asked about the involvement of the NSC in the IOCC, chief executive Jean Larue said all they promised to help with was transportation.

A pull and push game between the parties began, until the SBF was held accountable.

The next step

After Saturday’s meeting, principal secretary for youth and sports Fabian Palmyre, who was in attendance, explained that the most practical thing to do now is for the SBF to hold an AGM, allowing members to decide the fate of the executive committee members.

He noted that from observation, it is obvious the basketball community is divided between members who are for the executive committee and members who are against.

PS Palmyre further noted that the two sides need to work together as one and come up with solutions to try and stop the Office of the Registrar from going ahead with the ‘struck off’ process.

He also made it clear that the ‘struck off’ process means that only the SBF as a federation, but not basketball as a sport, will be dismissed.

Mr Palmyre also explained that in case of a ‘struck off’ the new basketball governing body will have to change its name and the members of the defunct federation will not be allowed to become members.

“As the PS for sports, my wish is to see basketball being played and if that implies the government stepping in, I would not mind to instruct the NSC to host a national league while the federation sorts itself out,” added PS Palmyre who further explained that the ‘struck off’ is not a simple procedure, as there are different steps involved.

This, he said, will take a long time before a new federation comes into place and that is why, the department of youth and sports, through the NSC will find it necessary to at least take charge of local basketball during that period, until things settle.

While the SBF is chasing its own tail, basketball lovers have been quite active at the beginning of the year by organising the ‘Warm Up’ tournament to keep the sport alive.

Organised by the Premium Cobras and Beau Vallon Heat clubs, the tournament was also the perfect opportunity to test the newly renovated Victoria Gymnasium, including the new surface and other facilities.

Roland Duval