/ 25 November 2011

Nyoka calls for investigation into IPL accounts in SA

Former Cricket South Africa (CSA) president Mtutuzeli Nyoka called for an investigation into Indian Premier League bank accounts in South Africa at the end of his testimony on the third day of evidence led by the ministerial committee of enquiry into the affairs of the sport.

Nyoka said that the investigation by auditing firm KPMG, which had compiled a damning report of malfeasance surrounding CSA officials during the country’s hosting of the IPL tournament, had not extended to the corruption-riddled IPL’s finances in this country.

He added that the Board of Control for Cricket in India had already sent “written permission to look at all the accounts of the IPL in South Africa” and that this would be an important step towards cleaning up cricket in this country.

As a parting shot, Nyoka also suggested that the 2011 bonuses for CSA officials should be investigated as they “represented the dysfunctionality of our administration” and there are “questions around corruption and theft around new bonuses for 2011”.

Nyoka was giving testimony on the third day of the committee, chaired by retired judge Chris Nicholson, which was recently appointed by sports minister to investigate charges of corruption and fiduciary contraventions of the companies that has dogged the sport for over two years.

Especially charges of mismanagement and corruption leveled against CSA’s chief executive officer, Gerald Majola that surfaced in the KPMG audit report.

Majola, together with other members of CSA are alleged to have received bonus payments totaling R4.7-million for South Africa hosting of the Indian Premier League in 2009 following security concerns in that country.

These bonuses were not reported to the cricket body’s remuneration committee as required. According to the KPMG report Majola had personally pocketed R1.8-million.

According to the auditor’s report CSA also allegedly footed the bill for the travel costs of Majola’s wife and two children during the tournament.

The audit also found that Majola had breached several sections of the Companies Act in negotiating the quickie-deal to bring the Premier League to South Africa.

Startling revelations
With the committee moving its hearing to Loftus Versveld to accommodate increasing media interest, Friday was a morning of startling revelations by Nyoka.

These included him admitting that he had signed off on a new salary contract for Majola without reading it, thus “approving a R1-million travel allowance for Gerald [Majola] and his wife”.

He also said that when allegations of corruption related to the IPL contract first began to surface — especially those made by the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) — he had believed Majola’s spin on events that painted a picture of a CEO under racially-driven attack by “a white mafia” within the GCB.

Nyoka admitted attempting to do everything in his power to “defend” Majola and take “punitive action” against the GCB, including withdrawing an England Test match from the Wanderers and successfully removing the old GCB board.

“I found the persecution of an innocent man unacceptable,” said Nyoka.

However, when CSA’s own internal audit processes started throwing up “hard facts” pointing to Majola having allegedly pocketed two bonuses, Nyoka said he was so stunned by the news that “I couldn’t drive. I just parked my car on the side of the road … Everything I had done to defend Gerald came flashing back to me.”

Nyoka also suggested that the internal commission of enquiry conducted by current CSA president AK Khan was an attempt to cover up the corrupt practices at the sports body, calling it a “biased committee”.