London: Fast bowling great Michael Holding has alleged misuse of half-a-million US dollars that BCCI donated to Cricket West Indies (CWI). Michael Holding has also raised serious questions on the financial management of the game’s governing body in the island nations.
Holding’s ire
Holding displayed the audit report of ‘Pannell Kerr Foster (PKF)’ on cricket governance in the Caribbean. This he did so during a YouTube talk show. He also touched upon the donation CWI received from BCCI for the benefit of its former players.
“Way back in 2013-2014, the BCCI donated half-a-million US dollars specifically to go to past players. I am a past player, not that I want any of it. But I know a lot of past players. I have never heard even one cent out of that half-a-million going to any past player,” Holding said.
“I am absolute sure if they (CWI) had done that, they would have made a big hullabaloo about it. Where is that half-a-million dollars? I will tell the viewers very soon,” said the 66-year-old.
Audit report should be made public
With the audit report in his hands, the legendary Jamaican questioned why it has not been made public. He said the more he reads the report, the angrier he gets.
“Former president to prime ministers (of various islands) have been calling for forensic report over cricket governance in the Caribbean. The current regime did not do a forensic audit, but they did an audit. They had the report in January but never released it. The 60-page report does not look good. It is a damning and harsh report. I want to delve into it,” asserted Holding.
Holding said CWI should make the audit report public. “They (CWI) 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,” pointed out Holding.
PTI