Cricket South Africa (CSA) has rejected allegations of R68-million in “missing” funds made by CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka.
CSA said in a statement on Tuesday that the money had been held on behalf of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as running costs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) competition, which was hosted by South Africa in 2009.
“All cash relating to these costs was not included in the income statement of CSA as it was not part of CSA activities,” CSA said. “CSA merely acted as a conduit for BCCI. CSA acted as a cash-funding mechanism for the BCCI. These transfers in and out were recorded in an intercompany account [not a suspense account].”
The cricket federation confirmed reports that the claim of the “missing” funds had been made in an affidavit by Nyoka to the South Gauteng High Court.
Nyoka was reinstated as the president of the federation on Friday after a judgment found that CSA had acted unlawfully when he was fired.
CSA announced soon after the judgment was made that it would appeal.
Conduit capacity
The federation said it had been expected to provide funding to stadiums of certain costs on behalf of the IPL in a conduit capacity.
“At the date of signing the heads of agreement for the IPL, the anticipated stadium running costs to be funded via CSA was $2,5-million.
“Per the agreement, these costs were to be reimbursed by the BCCI, thus no expense relating to the above was recorded in the books of CSA to the extent that the amounts were reimbursable and also stadium-related.
“However, any other expenses not in accordance with the host agreement that CSA wished to recover would need agreement by both CSA and BCCI.
“The anticipated stadium cost well exceeded the agreed $2,5-million and thus there were further negotiations between CSA and the BCCI (circa R27 million).”
The BCCI remitted cash to CSA, the federation said, to fund all other event-related costs, which included stadium bumper costs, advertising and marketing.
“The majority of CSA board members concur with these findings. The IPL accounts have been audited.”
Rift
Nyoka threatened to reveal corruption in cricket after he was given a vote of no-confidence by the CSA board in February.
A rift between Nyoka and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola reportedly widened when the president called for an independent investigation regarding bonus payments made to 40 CSA staffers for the successful hosting of the IPL and the ICC Champions Trophy.
The payments were not cleared by the CSA remuneration committee.
The federation held an internal investigation and Majola, who received R1,7-million as part of the payments, was formally cautioned but ultimately cleared. — Sapa