The Committee of Administrators (COA) has decided to send the Deloitte audit reports to all state associations, asking them to respond within 10 days. This follows a request from the state bodies to allow them an access to their respective audit reports, as Deloitte had submitted those directly to the BCCI.
According to a former BCCI official, certain associations like Hyderabad, Goa, Odisha, DDCA, Jammu & Kashmir and Assam didn’t fare well in the reports, with some irregularities found. The state bodies under the scanner now owe an explanation to the Supreme Court-appointed panel.
Asked what exactly the state association will have to explain, a member of the COA said: “There are certain observations that Deloitte has made on financial matters at the association level. So we want to get a response from them on some of the observations in terms of how money was spent, whether there was an appropriate record or not, whether it looks appropriate or not based on certain valuations etc. Different associations have different types of issues. These are all financial matters, so we need the associations to respond.”
Those who have failed to meet the required standards might face punishments. “We haven’t decided what we can do. Based on the response, we will have to decide what the next steps are. Obviously (irregularities) won’t be taken lightly, because if there are financial irregularities at state level, then somebody should take ownership and respond. Ultimately, the BCCI’s money is being disbursed to the states, so there has to be proper utilisation of funds.”
This paper has already reported how the Deloitte report had exposed massive financial irregularities at the Hyderabad Cricket Association — ordering 2,600 plates of food during an U-19 match, paying two travel vendors for the same flight taken by the junior team, furniture and laptops going missing, spending Rs 40 lakh on medical insurance for club secretaries’ families, charges of electricity theft, gold coins for executive committee members and more. The BCCI under its erstwhile dispensation had also stopped grants to the DDCA, Assam, Goa, J&K and few other associations because of alleged irregularities and/or bad management.
