-loss of confidence cited

Members of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) at their last meeting expressed the view that the board’s treasurer should stand down as it appeared that he had lost the confidence of members in handling its financial affairs.

Stabroek News was told that the treasurer, Sheik Asif Ahmad was not present at the June 11th executive meeting and as such there was no financial report presented at the meeting. Sources said members expressed disappointment that Ahmad had absented himself and some pointed out that he had also not attended the meeting of board members with Minister of Sport, Dr Frank Anthony following allegations of financial irregularities and other matters.

“A suggestion was made at the meeting for the treasurer to stand down as an executive member as he appears to no longer have the confidence in dealing with the financial affairs of the board,” a source said.

When contacted recently by Stabroek News, Ahmad said nothing of the sort had been communicated to him and according to him the financial statements/reports of the GCB are in order. He said he had presented a report to this effect noting that it was even adopted by the GCB. He also stated that the financial records of the Essequibo Cricket Board are up to date.

Ahmad noted that he was also asked to present his accounting reports in a simpler form to the umbrella body, since according to him, the financial reports which he had submitted were done using Quickbooks and they needed to be broken down to reflect a clearer picture.

This newspaper was told that no one objected to the suggestion that he should be asked to stand down and an executive of the board offered to discuss the issue with Ahmad.

The spotlight has been on the GCB following an acid attack on its assistant treasurer Pretipaul Jaigobin on May 25th.    Jaigobin and some others close to the board are of the view that the attack was related to queries that he had made at the level of the board.

Since the incident, there have been several revelations surrounding the cost for the LBI hostel and the fact that the hostel along with one at Anna Regina had defects while there was no defects liability period in the contracts under which they were built.

The allegations led to the meeting with the minister and it was decided that the Office of the Auditor General would audit the board’s finances and the LBI and Anna Regina hostels would be examined by building experts to determine whether the board got value for money and also to pronounce on the soundness of both structures.

Meanwhile, reports are that while Ahmad, who is also the president of the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) did not attend the executive meeting he did attend the general membership meeting on June 13th along with the administrator/treasurer of the ECB who is also the administrator of the GCB. At that meeting Ahmad and his treasurer reportedly declined to submit a financial or administration report to the board until there was a guarantee from the GCB that their reports would not reach the media.

According to reports this position was rejected by all the members present and they pointed out there is nothing to hide in cricket matters but the two stuck to their position. The financial report from the Essequibo board was important, sources said, since the GCB records reveal that in excess of $3M was disbursed to that board for the current financial year. A decision was then taken that the Essequibo board will not receive any further monies unless the relevant reports are submitted.

And on another issue, Stabroek News was told that some members are concerned that an unaudited financial report has been posted on the GCB’s website as an audited report.

It was pointed out that more inaccuracies were pointed out in the April to May financial report of the board and one area of concern was the fact that the two hostels were not included in the report as fixed assets,

Members also raised concerns over the issue of the LBI hostel being insured without a tender procedure being followed and without the entire executive being involved in the decision making of the process.

Other members noted that almost three weeks after the meeting with Minister Anthony none of the decisions taken had been implemented.