The Guyana Police Force has launched an investigation into the financial affairs of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee disclosed today.
It is the latest move in a high-stakes confrontation between the government and the GCB which has seen both the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) hinting that Guyana could he shut out from regional and international cricket.
Rohee at a press briefing told reporters that he had written to the Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brummell requesting that the police force conduct an immediate investigation into the affairs of the GCB. “There is a general belief that everything is not all right with respect to the financial activities of the Guyana Cricket Board. There are certain documents which have to be perused in order to ascertain the extent to which this situation obtains” he noted.
Recently the doors to the Board’s office were locked and Sports Minister Dr. Frank Anthony in justifying this had said that government was worried that GCB officials would tamper with evidence regarding allegations of financial impropriety. The padlocking had come after the government established an Interim Management Committee headed by Clive Lloyd to run local cricket. The GCB resisted this and moved to the courts and also enlisted the support of the WICB and the ICC. Both of the latter have since said that they only recognize the GCB. Talks have been ongoing under the auspices of Caricom to settle the dispute between the government on the one hand and the WICB and the GCB on the other.
The government has said it will not withdraw the IMC.
Critics have said that the government mishandled the situation by not moving earlier against the GCB and applying pressure against those who were resisting changes. The critics note that the very issues the police will now probe had been raised publicly as far back as two years but that the government did nothing about it.
Over the past two years the GCB has been wracked with allegations about financial improprieties, unaccountability and other matters including improperly acquired visas. Matters came to a head when a member of the board was doused with acid after having raised concerns about board activities.
