WICB in ICC money muddle
The WICB is late in paying its cricketers. It is also late in submitting its accounts to the ICC.
by Martin Williamson
Cricinfo has learned that the Pakistan Cricket Board, Sri Lanka
Cricket and the West Indies Cricket Board are late in filing their audited
accounts and so risk delays in receiving funding of around US$2.8m from the ICC
due from the recent ICC World Twenty20.
Under the ICC’s rules, any member who is late filing accounts is ineligible for
their share of income from ICC events. Although the money is paid when the
situation is put right, all three boards affected are believed to be short of
cash and so any delay is likely to cause them problems.
The most serious case is that of Sri Lanka, who are two years behind. Accounts
for the year ending December 2007 should have been submitted by June 2008, and
those for December 2008 were due last month. They have not been paid any ICC
monies in the interim.
Sujeewa Rajapakse, the treasurer of Sri Lanka Cricket, told Cricinfo the delay
had been caused by a change in the country’s administration. “SLC’s auditors had
completed an audit of the accounts for that particular period but by then the
administration changed hands,” he said. “The new board decided to look at the
issue differently and conveyed some fresh observations to the auditors, which
are being worked on. We expect the auditors to complete the job by this
month-end after which we will submit our accounts to the ICC.”
Pakistan should have submitted the accounts for the year ending June 2008 last
December. A well-placed source inside the PCB confirmed that Pakistan were
behind on the audits but insisted it was “a non issue”. He added that the BCCI
were also behind, but an ICC spokesman told Cricinfo this was not the case.
The WICB’s accounts for the year ending September 2008 were due last March.
Barry Thomas, the board’s Chief Finance Officer, said: “The ICC requires our
audited accounts six (6) months after our year-end or by March 31st (our year
ends on September 30th). However, we are also required to present the audited
accounts to our shareholders for their approval. Our AGM this year will be in
Antigua on August 10, when the audited financial statements will be presented to
our shareholders.We are forwarding to the ICC today the draft audited statements
received from our auditors.”
Martin Williamson is executive editor of Cricinfo
and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa