BCCI changes fund distribution policy

The BCCI will only use electronic methods to distribute funds to all state associations in the wake of the economic wing of the Goa Police arresting three top-ranking officials of the Goa Cricket Association (GCA), including its president Chetan Desai, for alleged fraud.

Desai, along with secretary Vinod Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla, allegedly opened a fake bank account in the name of the GCA and encashed a cheque from the BCCI worth INR 3.13 crore in 2006-07. In an effort to prevent such instances, the Indian board has added additional security measures before funds are released to any state association.

"All transfers will only be electronic. No cheques will be given," BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke told ESPNcricinfo. "In future all payments from BCCI to state associations will be made to a designated account. That account will have to be confirmed by the current secretary and treasurer of the association. It would have to be counter verified by the bank where the account has been opened. And the statutory auditor of the state association will have to issue a certificate saying it is the actual operative account of the state association."

Desai and Phadke, in addition to their posts in the GCA, are also part of BCCI sub-committees. Desai is chairman of the board's marketing committee while Phadke is on the information technology and data management panel. Shirke said the BCCI's decision on Desai and the GCA's future would be made public by Friday evening.

The GCA issue has come at a time when the BCCI's governance structure and accountability processes have come under fire. The Lodha Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to look into changing the way the board functions, had offered its recommendations in January and the court has been insisting the BCCI implement them. It is likely the GCA issue will crop up when the hearing resumes on June 30.

The alleged fraud by Desai and his aides had already been revealed to the court by Hemant Angle, a former Goa cricketer and GCA life member, in his intervention application in the Lodha Committee hearing.