00:00According to Calypsonian Roger Muhammad, better known by his subroquet bodyguard,
00:05the document dated February 5th, 2025, under the heading Outstanding Payments,
00:10was leaked to financial members of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians organization.
00:16It reads, reimbursement for President King, $350,000.
00:24Reimbursement for President, Vice President and General Secretary
00:29for non-participation in the Tuco National Calypso Monarch Competition, $100,000 each.
00:39Treasurer, Mrs. Judy Benico, $100,000.
00:44Assistant Treasurer, Mrs. Melissa Williams-Campbell, $60,000.
00:51Errol Bali-Ballantyne is said to have communicated privately with the executive of Tuco in May of this year,
00:57seeking to verify the authenticity and contents of the document.
01:01For more than three months, he was totally ignored.
01:07What that generated was a call amongst the general membership to have a gathering to discuss this matter.
01:17And so they are making their once private questions public and addressing them to Tuco's President, Ainsley King.
01:25Which is, have any executive members of Tuco been paid the monies mentioned in this document
01:35in lieu of not participating in the Tuco National Calypso Monarch Competition?
01:43They are of the view that a five-page response from King, which labelled the document as fake, provided no answer to that question.
01:51While Mohammed states that they are now seeking legal advice and plan to take the issue to the government
01:57and the National Carnival Commission, Ballantyne reveals another request that has been made to Tuco.
02:03Under the Constitution, Article 7C, all members, all financial members, have the authority to examine the accounts of the organization.
02:17So we have written the General Secretary.
02:20In fact, we have prepared a letter for the General Secretary to that effect.
02:24We want to examine the books, the accounts.
02:27The Calypso Monarchs claim that some of the amounts stated in the document are more than what is paid to contestants in the Tuco competition.
02:37Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
