BCCI budgets Rs. 330.32 crore to fight IPL fixing-betting case in Supreme Court (Exclusive)

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali (Mail Today) 

New Delhi, December 23, 2014: Jittery BCCI mandarins seem to have anticipated that the ongoing high-profile 2013 IPL betting-fixing case in the Supreme Court would drag on for a long period and that’s probably why it has earmarked a fund just to meet the expenses, including a huge lawyers’ bill.
 
The BCCI, the richest cricket board in the world, has set aside an exigency fund of Rs. 330.32 crore, specifically to meet the expenses of this case. This amount, according to a top BCCI source, is part of Rs. 1,150.67 crore that the BCCI has invested in Fixed Deposits (FDs) in banks.
 
If BCCI officials had indeed anticipated a long drawn battle in the complicated case, in which a lot is at stake for sidelined president N. Srinivasan, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, and IPL franchises — Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, they were not off target.
 
“That is why the Board has kept aside a specific fund for the ongoing case in the Supreme Court. If all of this Rs. 330.32 crore is not utilised, the leftover amount will be used for some other meaningful purpose,” the source told Mail Today. “So, after Rs. 330.32 crore is taken out of the total of Rs. 1,150.67 crore invested in the FDs, the Board is actually left with only Rs. 785 crore,” he stressed, hinting at a none-too-happy situation so far funds are concerned.
 
The source further disclosed: “The BCCI currently has $18.5million approximately (Rs. 116.90 crore) Exchange Earners' Foreign Currency Account (EEFC) while there is Rs. 134 crore in the various savings accounts.”
 
The Supreme Court case, being fought on a PIL filed by unrecognised Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), has now gone on for almost one-and- a-half years. However, the arguments by the parties are now over and the two-member bench, comprising Justices T.S. Thakur and Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, has reserved the judgement, which is expected to be delivered early next month when the court reopens after the winter vacation.
 
The BCCI/Srinivasan have hired the services of some of the top-of-the-line lawyers like Kapil Sibal and C.A. Sundram, and the Board realised that it would particularly need a large fund to meet their lawyers’ fees and related sundry expenses, like travelling etc. This case and other court battles, besides a spate of tax demands running into hundreds of crores of rupees and arbitration proceedings against several clients, has forced the BCCI on the back foot and juggle its funds.
 
This is corroborated by BCCI’s decision to break many of its Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) prematurely during financial year 2012-13 to meet various pressing fund requirements. It encashed 17 FDRs, ranging between periods of 181 days to one year, which were worth Rs. 130 crore.
 
More recently, the standing committee of finance (2014-15) of the 16th Lok Sabha, in its 31-page report, which mostly deals with the BCCI/IPL’s commercial aspect, came down heavily on tax authorities for being “very lenient” on the Board.
 
In some cases, the probe by the tax authorities, including the Enforcement Directorate, continues. “The committee are, however, not satisfied with the progress of investigations in the matter, as already much time has passed without any outcome by way of penal action in these cases. The committee, therefore, would like the government to conclude the investigations in the matter expeditiously and apprise the committee of the outcome thereof,” wrote M. Veerappa Moily, chairperson of the committee on finance.
 
(This story was first published in Mail Today newspaper on December 23, 2014)

Opposition alleges Srinivasan group delaying convening special general meeting of BCCI

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi

Four days after it was decided by the BCCI’s working committee (on April 20) that a special general meeting would be convened there is no sign of notice convening the same, forcing some members to call it a tactical play to buy time by the N. Srinivasan group.

Interestingly, the BCCI prepared the minutes of Sunday’s working committee meeting and presented them before a two-member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday hearing the 2013 IPL betting-fixing case.

But the same Board has, rather strangely, not yet circulated the notice convening the special general meeting (SGM), said office-bearers of several BCCI affiliated associations on Wednesday evening.

Some members, led by Shashank Manohar, the Vidarbha representative at Sunday’s meeting and a former BCCI president, had sought the SGM and interim Board president Shaivlal Yadav had agreed to convene one.

“We have not received the notice for the SGM till today,” the president of a state association told Mail Today on April 23. The secretary of another association confirmed that.

“We are not happy with the way the Board is functioning,” the association president said. “If they can prepare the minutes of the working committee, they could have sent a one-line notice for the SGM too. It’s strange. They are clearly trying to delay the meeting.” 

Notices for Board meetings are circulated by the secretary’s office, first through e-mail and then a hard copy by courier. But Baroda-based Sanjay Patel’s office till Wednesday evening hadn’t sent the SGM notice. When Mail Today tried to contact Patel on his mobile, he did not respond.

The SGM has been sought to remove beleaguered president Srinivasan as head of the disciplinary committee as he has asked by the Supreme Court to stay away from the Board’s affairs until at least a new inquiry committee submits its report.

The court has asked Srinivasan to temporarily keep away as his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan is one of the people allegedly involved in the 2013 IPL betting-fixing scandal. Besides, he himself is in a conflict-of-interest position as he owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings while being a BCCI office-bearer.

The group opposed to Srinivasan alleged that since secretary Sanjay Patel belongs to the president’s group, he was intentionally delaying the SGM notice to buy time.

In normal circumstances, a SGM is called by the secretary, on instructions from the president at 21 day’s notice. But, according to the Board constitution, if the secretary fails to convene an SGM at the president’s direction, or on a resolution of a working committee, the president himself can convene the meeting.

(This story first appeared in Mail Today on April 24)

‘Revamp draft’ a crude attempt to hijack ICC, asserts its former president Ehsan Mani

Says it shows ICC governance has reached its nadir

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali

New Delhi: Describing an attempt by the Indian, Australian and English Boards to “hijack the ICC” as a proof of its governance reaching an “absolute nadir”, former president of the world body Ehsan Mani on Friday claimed he could make a case that the affluent BCCI doesn’t need ICC money at all.

Mani, a chartered account who was ICC president from 2003-2006, didn’t rule out a split in the cricket world because of this attempt by the ‘Big Three’, but was confident that Indian public opinion would not allow BCCI to get away with its plans and be deprived of competitive cricket.

BCCI, the world’s richest cricket Board worth Rs 3,621.94 crore, along with Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has prepared a draft containing a revolutionary proposal to revamp ICC’s structure, governance, and financial model.

“I was getting information and vibes that something was cooking, much before the draft was presented at a January 9 ICC meeting and later was leaked to the media. I was absolutely horrified and shocked when I read the draft three days ago. This shows total disregard to the ICC,” Mani told Mail Today in an interview.

“I was involved with the ICC for 17 years (1989-2006) and know its history since 1909. It’s one of the most dangerous things to have happened to the ICC, and I say this very categorically,” he said.

“It’s a crude attempt at total hijacking of the ICC by the three Boards,” he said. “It’s a big insult to the other 100-plus ICC member countries.” 

Mani, who negotiated the 2007-2015 media rights deal worth $1.1 billion with ESPN-STAR Sports, indicated that the BCCI can survive on its own as its media and broadcast rights deals are lucrative, besides the money- spinning IPL.

“The BCCI doesn’t need ICC money. I can make a very strong case of BCCI not needing the money. The whole model of [ICC money] distribution is wrong. In all other international federations the weaker nations get more funds,” he said, referring to the current structure and also that mentioned in the ‘position paper’.

BCCI is projected as the biggest beneficiary in the proposal. But it’s also a hard fact that the N Srinivasan-headed Indian Board today controls cricket commerce and is driving changes in world cricket as a consequence.

Guessing the genesis of the problem, the London-based Mani said that the fear of upsetting BCCI might have prompted Australia and England to align with it.

“This [the attempt] is nothing new. Since Australia and England could be worried about upsetting BCCI, they became loyal to the Indian Board [in preparing the draft],” he said.

“It shows inherent weakness in ICC governance. It’s far weaker than when Jagmohan Dalmiya [1997-2000], Malcolm Gray [2000-2003] or when I was there. Percy Sonn [2006-2007] unfortunately died during his tenure. David Morgan [2008-10] tried to fix it, but now it has reached an absolute nadir,” Mani thundered.

The ICC Executive Board will discuss the draft next week in Dubai. Mani hasn’t lost hope. “An independent tribunal should look into the draft,” he said. 

When asked if he would be willing to help resolve the developing crisis, Mani said he would be eady to step in, if aksed. “But I would like the 'three' countries to resolve the issue.” 

(This interview first appeared in Mail Today on January 25, 2014)