Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer

LAWYERS for the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), the body which negotiated a three-year $150 million sponsorship deal of local premier league football with embattled institution Cash Plus Limited, have written to the firm, threatening legal action over arrears of $19 million.

Edward Seaga, chairman of the PLCA, on Sunday told The Gleaner that December's payment, which should have been $6 million, arrived two months late and $1 milion short last week.

Problems

"We got $5 million from them last week, but at the same time they still have a lot outstanding," the former prime minister and president of the Tivoli Gardens Football Club pointed out, adding that the arrangement was for Cash Plus to pay the PLCA $6 million monthly.

Cash Plus, an alternative investment scheme, started experiencing problems after commercial banks refused to honour cheques issued to investors.

The company's woes increased in December when the Financial Services Commission (FSC) hit the firm with a cease-and-desist order.

However, Seaga said Cash Plus' problems with the government have nothing to do with the sponsorship agreement for the premier league.

"That's the agreement we have," he said. "That may be their defence but we can't look at their side of it. We have to look at ours," he pointed out. "Our lawyers have written for them to pay up the arrears. We have an agreement with Cash Plus and our lawyers have written to say 'you have so many days to pay up or we'll take legal action'."

Efforts to reach Cash Plus senior management were futile as calls either went straight to voice mail or rang without answer.

REINVESTED SUMS

The hard-nosed former prime minister went on to explain the sponsorship deal and how the PLCA reinvested sums with Cash Plus, which offered minimum annual returns of 120 per cent.

"It was just a theoretical exercise of Cash Plus providing $50 million upfront and we would have reinvested the amount not in use," he explained. "What we did was to say we were going to need $6 million per month and so we treated the difference from the $50 million as an investment on the reducing balance.

"That did not, in any way, represent a reduction in Cash Plus' commitment," Seaga pointed out. "We just asked that if they couldn't pay the full $50 million at one time, to treat the balance as an investment on a reducing basis and they did so as a favour."

Despite Cash Plus' tardiness, Seaga said the premier league has still benefited far more than it ever did under any previous sponsor.

"Although there are arrears of $19 million, what we've gotten so far, about the same amount, has been substantially more than we've gotten from any previous sponsor. So far, we've come out ahead of any previous sponsorship but not what we were contracted for with Cash Plus," he pointed out.