Goa Cricket Association's finances under scrutiny

The Goa state government has ordered an investigation into the finances of the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) after two local clubs affiliated to the GCA lodged a complaint alleging incidents of fraud.

On May 1, the State Registration Department set up a committee comprising Chetan Desai, a former GCA secretary, and retired bureaucrat Anil Lavandis to probe the allegations and gave them 15 days to complete the task. The government has also asked the GCA not to take any financial decisions until the investigation is over.

Desai, who is leading the investigation, told ESPNcricinfo that the GCA is not co-operating and that he might be forced to involve the police to obtain the information he needs. "They are not acting in a very co-operative manner," he said. "They have kept the association closed for four days. They cited security reasons but we have held so many camps, including women's camps, and there has never been a security problem."

Desai said he wrote to the association secretary on May 7 requesting all the financial documents for the last year but has received no response. Given that the government has asked him to submit a report on the association's finances by May 15, he said he might be forced to resort to using the police to gain access to the offices of the association if GCA officials continued to prevent him from doing his job.

In addition to the allegations of fraud, the GCA has also been accused of illegally constructing a new building. Earlier this week Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte asked the government to set up a second investigation team to examine "irregularities" relating to the construction of the new building. Khaunte claimed he had documents to prove the involvement of association secretary Prasad Phaterpekar, as well as other members, and that he would file a first information report (FIR) against them.

Calls to the GCA were not returned. The association is headed by Dayanand Narvekar, a former BCCI vice-president and a former state minister.