Former Cricket West Indies Vice-President, Emmanuel Nanthan, has said there was no financial impropriety regarding a US$134, 200.00 earmarked for cricket development, and transferred to Cricket West Indies from a sponsor two years ago.
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.
Nanthan revealed that at a meeting held in September 2018, the board of Cricket West Indies decided 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.
He said that Barbados Cricket Association and the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board were asked to assist to meet some of the costs, and that he then offered Cricket West Indies to allow the sponsorship funds for the Dominica Cricket Academy to go through Cricket West Indies so that it could be used to help host the tournament.
Questions over the source and use of the monies were allegedly raised in an audit commissioned by Cricket West Indies and made public by international cricket television broadcaster Michael Holding on the YOU-TUBE cricket show called “Mikey – Holding Nothing Back” hosted by Asif Khan.
Apparently, the auditors were unable to find “an executed agreement” for the transaction and noted that 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 which had, in turn, used it for development purposes.
