Michael Holding accuses Cricket West Indies of misusing BCCI funds for retired players

Former West Indies cricketer Michael Holding has alleged the misuse of $500,000 that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) donated to the Cricket West Indies (CWI). The former West Indian seamer said that the money donated by BCCI to help retired players did not reach them. “In 2014, the BCCI donated half a million dollars to WICB to help past players. It was a donation by the BCCI. I am a past player, and I am not saying I want any of it. But I know a lot of past players who have not heard one cent of the half a million dollars going to any of them,” Holding said on a YouTube cricket show called “Mikey - Holding Nothing Back” hosted by Asif Khan. A report in the Mumbai Mirror mentions that Holding got access to a ‘confidential’ audit report of Pannell Kerr Foster (PKF) and stated that he had a number of queries. “Each page I turn I get so angry,” the report mentioned the cricketer as saying. The cricket legend also alleged that former president to prime minister have been calling for forensic audit over the governance in cricket in the Caribbean.

“The current regime did not do a forensic audit but they did an audit. They had the report in January, but they never released it. The 60-page audit report does not look good. It is a damning and harsh report,” Holding said in the YouTube video. According to a report in Jamaica Star, CWI president Ricky Skerritt has denied the misuse of funds and has said that governing body has no intention to “hide” the contents of the audit report. Speaking in the context of the leaked report accessed by former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding, Skerritt said the audit commissioned by his administration was for internal purpose and wasn’t being considered for a quick public release.