Michael Holding
Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding on Monday accused Cricket West Indies (CWI) of misusing BCCI funds after he got hold of a ‘confidential' audit report of Pannell Kerr Foster (PKF). The spoke of the following in an interview on YouTube.
"Former president to prime ministers have been calling for forensic audit over the governance in cricket in the Caribbean. The current regime did not do a forensic audit, but they did an audit. They had the report in January, but they never released it. The 60-page audit report does not look good. It is a damning and harsh report. I want to delve into it. I picked three reports," he said.
Based on the report, on August 8, 2018, CWI had received a fund amounting US$134,200 from a sponsor on behalf of the Dominica Cricket Association (DCA) in a bid to revamp cricket in the area.
"On August 8, 2018, the CWI received $1,34,0200 on behalf of Dominica Cricket Association from a third party which appears to be an off-shore corporation. In this particular situation, CWI was a financial conduit. This money was paid over to DCA in three tranches – USD 104,100 on November 16, 2018, USD 15,700 on August 2 2019, and USD 14,400 on September 21, 2019," he quoted the report while questioning the due diligence performed in the transaction.
"What due diligence was performed to ensure that the source of the funds was legitimate and that the funds were clean from an anti-money laundering compliance perspective?
"We have become aware of several matters that cause consternation with respect to whether things were done in the best interest of Cricket West Indies," Holding quoted the report as saying.
Holding also clarified that he is not accusing the board of money laundering.
"They can claim confidentiality if they are a private company. You cannot claim to be a private company if you have public share-holders. The share-holders of CWI are six regional boards. They are hiding behind a clause to not release the report," he said.
"I am not accusing them of laundering money, nor does the auditor. But I find one particular transaction not above board. Things like this should be above board and no one can be accused of anything."
Before signing off, Holding informed about a half a milion donation made by BCCI to help former West Indies cricketers which many ex-players aren't even aware of.
"One other item I am going to touch upon along with others in the next show. In 2014, the BCCI donated half a million dollars to WICB to help past players. It was a donation by the BCCI. I am a past player, and I am not saying I want any of it. But I know a lot of past players who have not heard one cent of the half a million dollars going to any of them. I am absolutely sure if they had done that, they would have made a big hullabaloo about it. Where is that half a million dollars? I will tell the viewers in the next show."
