ICC to release World Cup money in six weeks

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the BCCI, has announced that the ICC will release the withheld World Cup guarantee money, which amounts to US$6.5 million, in six weeks. The amount was withheld by the ICC after claims by the Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), the body representing the World Cup sponsors, that all the promises made to them had not been fulfilled. As the BCCI was at the center of the controversy, due to the ruckus over player contracts, the ICC kept back the guarantee money pending a settlement with the GCC.

Speaking to reporters in Kolkata, Dalmiya said: "It was decided at the executive board meeting of ICC Development International Limited (IDI, the commercial arm of ICC) that the money is to be released, and the time-frame fixed for that is four to six weeks."

He also clarified that there had been contradictory reports after the meeting at Barbados which stated that the ICC's decision was conditional and that BCCI had to furnish a bank guarantee for the release of the money. "I had checked up with the ICC President Ehsan Mani and he clearly stated that he had been grossly misquoted by the media on the bank guarantee issue", he said.

Dalmiya said the ICC had only set two conditions for release of the withheld money. Firstly, each of the 10 full-member boards would have to furnish a personal indemnity in case the GCC succeeds in any of its claims with IDI. Also, if a GCC claim has to be settled, a panel of experts would determine the liability of individual boards and its decision would be binding.