Michael Holding threatens to expose Cricket West Indies for misusing past BCCI donation

Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding has accused the West Indies cricket board of misusing half a million US dollars donated by the BCCI. Michael Holding even raised serious questions regarding the financial management of the game’s governing body in West Indies, which is known as Cricket West Indies (CWI). While speaking on a YouTube show, Michael Holding showed the audit report of Pannell Kerr Foster (PKF) on cricket governance in West Indies and raised several alarm bells.

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Michael Holding accuses West Indies cricket of misusing BCCI's donation

Michael Holding also questioned about the donation West Indies cricket received from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the benefit of its former players. Michael Holding said that way back in 2013-2014, the BCCI donated $500,000 specifically to go to former players. He reiterated that he is a former player too and had not received a single penny from the board. Michael Holding added that he doesn't want any of it but confidently claimed that like him, others did not receive anything from the BCCI donation.

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Michael Holding further said that he is absolutely sure that if West Indies cricket had done that, they would have made a big hullabaloo about it. He questioned the exact usage of the $500,000 donated by the BCCI. With the audit report in his hands, he said that he will tell cricket lovers about it very soon and questioned the report not going public. He also said the more he reads the report, the angrier he gets.

Michael Holding added that former Presidents to Prime Ministers (of various islands) have been calling for the forensic report over the governance of cricket in the Caribbean. The current regime did not do a forensic audit, but they did a usual audit. They had the report in January but never released it. He added that the 60-page report does not look good. It is a damning and harsh report and he wants to delve into it.

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Michael Holding said West Indies cricket should make the audit report public. He added that they can claim confidentiality if they are a private company. He also said that a company cannot be private if it has public shareholders. The shareholders of West Indies cricket are six regional boards and added that they are hiding behind a clause to not release the report.

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IMAGE COURTESY: AP