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Did Dalmiya bribe his way to the ICC chairmanship?

Several readers have referred us to an interview conducted by Mr Khalid Ansari, of the Bombay-based eveninger Mid-Day, with ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

We quote, verbatim, from the article of date May 12, 2000:

A national English daily had just faxed Dalmiya a questionnaire relating to an allegation that a sum of Pounds Sterling 36,000 had been spent from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) account in 1996 for Dalmiya’s election as ICC president.

The publication had ‘demanded’ that the charges be answered (as he put it) the same day. ‘‘Do I deserve this?’’ he asked.

‘‘Certain vested interests are harassing me night and day,’’ Dalmiya said, adding ‘‘and I’m sorry to say that a section of the press is acting in concert with these elements. If I say something today, I can be sure the facts will be distorted tomorrow."

Does Dalmiya deserve this? Here are the facts:

On May 9, we had published extracts from the minutes of a BCCI meeting held in 1996. As per accepted practise, minutes of meetings are kept by the secretary. The BCCI secretary at the time was Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya. Meaning, these minutes were logged by him, in his own words.

The above url gives you the full extract, but for ease of reference, we quote here the relevant portion:

The chairman informed the members that as per the decision of the working committee in its meeting on 23 and 24 May 1996 at Shimla, an application was made to the Reserve Bank of India for sanction of Pounds 30,000.00 to meet the expenses towards legal expenses, fees of solicitors, meetings with different member countries as well as dinner for the ICC members in connection with India's candidature of the ICC chairman elect. The Reserve Bank of India sanctioned the amount of Pounds 30,000.00 towards the expenses mentioned above.

He explained that various member boards which are not in a very sound position economically, usually have a representative in England who attend the ICC meetings on behalf of those member countries. He mentioned that these English representatives usually towed the line followed by England although their boards could have a different opinion. The chairman observed that in order to have fair voting, it was essential to ensure the attendance of actual representatives of the member countries instead of their English representatives. Morever, he informed that other contestants, especially Australia, were paying for travel, hotel accomodation and local transportation of the representatives of some of the associate member countries. In view of these factors, the Indian delegates also decided to pay for the international travel, hotel accomodation and local transportation of the representatives of some of the ICC member countries so that they attended the meeting in person instead of their English representatives in order to ensure fair voting. The chairman informed that owing to this, the total expenditure was Pounds 36,576.40.

The action of the Indian delegation as stated above was ratified by the members and the total expenditure amounting to Pounds 36,576.40 was sanctioned. The hony. treasurer was advised to tke necessary action in this matter.

The members also observed that an estimate would be placed in the Annual General Meeting of the Board in Chandigarh on 25/26 September 1996 for future expenses in the matter. For emergency, however, the members authorised the president, BCCI, to take necessary action.

The above, as pointed out, is Dalmiya's own words. From which it becomes clear that foreign currency, equally around Rs 26-28 lakh, was indeed sanctioned towards funding the travel, lodging and boarding and other expenses of those ICC delegates, from the associate nations, who were prepared to vote for Dalmiya.

Is this corruption? You call it. And while you are thinking of this, there are a couple of other questions you could ponder about.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is a society registered under "The Societies Registration Act", in 1940, as a non-profit organisation with the stated aim of administering the game of cricket in India.

Apart from this, the BCCI despite its enormous income has been given a tax exemption under Section 10 (23) of the Income Tax Act -- a provision that applies only if "the Association or Institution applies its income or accumulates its application, wholly and exclusively to the objects for which it is established".

So what was the BCCI established for? To administer and improve the game in India. Right -- so the highest amount that the BCCI has spent on coaching, in a single year till date, was in 1998-1999. The amount spent was Rs. 17.89 lakhs. In 1996, that same figure was under ten lakh. Whereas over Rs 28 lakh was spent on expenses relating to Dalmiya's election.

Now will Mr Dalmiya tell us how come the BCCI, which got its tax exemption to improve the game in India and not to fund Dalmiya's own personal ambition to be top dog in international cricket, spent far more money on his election than it has done on cricket coaching?

'Do I deserve this?', Dalmiya plaintively asks Khalid Ansari.

You tell us -- does he?

Continued: Did Dalmiya negotiate with Doordarshan?

Related links:

Minutes from the BCCI meeting relating to Dalmiya's bid to be ICC chairman -- dated May 9, 2000

Sound and fury -- David Richards springs to Dalmiya's defence -- dated May 3, 2000

Why is the ICC lying? -- May 4, 2000

Prem Panicker