ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Former Cricket West Indies vice-president, Emmanuel Nanthan, has said there was no financial impropriety regarding a US$134 200 transfer to Cricket West Indies from a sponsor two years ago, which had been targeted for cricket development here.
Nanthan, who was voted out of office last year, said the monies had been meant for the Dominica Cricket Association to fund its cricket academy but were instead sent to CWI to help the cash-strapped regional governing body stage the Regional Super50 Cup.
“At a meeting held in September 2018 … the board of Cricket West Indies took a decision that if they could not get the funds within a week for the regional one-day tournament they were going to call off the tournament,” the Dominican said.
“The board asked Barbados to see what they could to assist in meeting some of the costs and asked Trinidad to see what they could do to assist to meet some of the costs.
“It was as a result of that, that during the week coming on I spoke with the management of Cricket West Indies and allowed the sponsorship funds for the Dominica Cricket Academy to go through Cricket West Indies so Cricket West Indies used the funds to help them host the tournament.” Questions over the source and use of the monies were allegedly raised in an audit commissioned by CWI, a copy of which was obtained by international cricket television broadcaster Michael Holding.
The legendary former West Indies fast bowler read sections of the audit on the Youtube cricket show called “Mikey – Holding Nothing Back” hosted by Asif Khan.
“What due diligence was performed to ensure that the source of the funds was legitimate and that the funds were clean from an anti-money laundering compliance perspective,” said Holding, quoting from the audit.
The report said auditors were unable to find “an executed agreement” for the transaction and added while the funds had been earmarked for cricket development in Dominica, “there was no evidence” that CWI had verified with the Dominica Cricket Association that the monies “were used as directed”.
Nanthan, who served as CWI vice-president for three terms until last year March, stressed there had been no “underhand” activity regarding the transaction and said there had been documentation at every stage to guide the process.
He said CWI had subsequently returned the money to the DCA who had in turn used it for development purposes.
“They (CWI) then sent … a minimal amount to the Dominica Cricket Association within a few weeks if not a month and in the ensuing two quarters afterwards sent the rest of the money to the Dominica Cricket Association to be used and utilised by the Dominica Cricket Association for their cricketing activities,” explained Nanthan.
“The Cricket Association sent on a report about the funds that were received and how they were spent. All those were given to Cricket West Indies.
“Things were done in the correct way. There was even a contract signed between the sponsor and Cricket West Indies for receiving those same funds and disbursing them onto the DCA, and the DCA responded to Cricket West Indies and sent them a note on how the funds were spent.”
He added: “I wasn’t a member of the DCA then but I was the one who negotiated the funds for the DCA and I allowed the funds to go to Cricket West Indies to allow them to host the regional one-day competition.
“As an administrator of cricket, I did what was necessary to get cricket going without any underhand thing … it was always in the best interests of cricket.”
Nathan’s assertions were supported by DCA president, Glen Joseph, who contended that his board was “very transparent in what we do”.
“All money that was sent was received and it was solely used for cricket development purposes,” he said.
“There are documents to prove that these funds were used for cricket development purposes. That I can confirm for anybody.”
