As a group of West Indian cricketers resume training at the Kensington Oval in Barbados for the possible upcoming tour of England in July, the spotlight on West Indies cricket has remained focused on the Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF) Report which was commissioned by the current Cricket West Indies (CWI) administration when they assumed office in April last year.
PKF, the accounting and management consulting firm, was retained by CWI for a six-month period, to conduct a business situation assessment and review of the organisation’s financial management systems, and to provide recommendations to address any shortcomings. The ‘Business Situation Assessment and Financial Review – 2019’ was duly received by CWI and unanimously adopted at the December, 2019 meeting in St. Maarten.
The report, deemed for internal use by CWI, was never released to the public, despite promises of transparency from the current President Ricky Skerritt when he was elected to office. The 60 page report was recently leaked to the media, and Michael Holding, former West Indies fast bowler and current international commentator, and ESPNcricinfo were amongst the first to reveal some of the findings of the PKF consultants.
As Holding, in a television interview, revealed rather bluntly, CWI is broke and is facing dire financial consequences. PFK noted that CWI has suffered from overly optimistic revenue projections and unsustainable costs, along with an opaque and inadequate accounting system which facilitated abuses to go unreported and posed a threat to “the board’s long-term sustainability.” The report blames historic factors for the current crisis, namely the previous CWI administration which was headed by Dave Cameron.
Each new revelation of the report brings with it, even more disturbing news for West Indies cricketing fans, who have endured a period of prolonged losing on the field. According to ESPNcricinfo, “Among the key issues was the decision to promote the Corporate Secretary to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) within the same accounting period as recruiting a new CEO (Johnny Grave) to perform similar tasks. The report estimates this squandered over US$300,000.”
Following that fiasco, was the issue of how Richard Pybus was re-employed.
“Mr Cameron brought back the former Director of Cricket as Director of High Performance without prior knowledge of the board, the CEO or current Director of Cricket. Furthermore, this new position within the Cricket Department was never identified as a key role by the Cricket Committee. As well, the appointment was not approved by either the HR Committee or board in advance of a contract being offered. The CWI contract was worth US$280,000 for a two year-period,” the ESPNcricinfo report stated.
The PKF report also revealed that India’s Cricket Board had made a donation of US$500,000.00 to be distributed to past players which was never done. Then there is the issue of the US$50,000.00 bonus paid to Cameron.
“At a directors meeting dated March 10th 2018 (as CWI moved towards a cash flow deficiency of $21m),” the report states, “a resolution was passed authorising an honorarium of $50,000 for the then President for having “worked beyond the call of duty” to get the ICC to allocate the $128m to CWI. This honorarium was paid in two payments of $25,000 on 5th June 2018 and 31st July 2019.” Worked beyond the call of duty? What did Cameron do? Go on a hunger strike for one month outside the ICC Headquarters? This bonus is utter nonsense, to say the least.
While CWI President, Dave Cameron had fought tooth and nail to resist attempts by the Caricom Heads of Government to enforce the Barriteau Report which had stated, “It is now past the time to accept that the current government structures [of the WICBC] are obsolete.” The report had suggested that the members of the current board resign and the board be dissolved and a “new governance framework” be installed. The members of the Dave Cameron-led board of course had steadfastly refused to comply with the recommendations, even labelling the dissolution call as “an unnecessary and intrusive demand.”
As is to be expected, Cameron, who served as president from March 2013 to March 2019, has dug in his heels. He believes that the current administration is “bent on covering their incompetence and failure to deliver …by desperately trying to shift focus to me with baseless accusations.”
Last week Cameron demanded that a copy of the report, which is obviously very critical of his tenure, be handed over within 48 hours, so he can defend the recent allegations made against him. Cameron also opted to take the Mulroney defence option and threatened to sue the CWI. (Brian Mulroney, a former Canadian Prime Minister, had launched a CAN $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Canadian Government, after the RCMP had accused Mulroney of accepting kickbacks for the sale of Airbus planes to Air Canada). The timeline has passed without Cameron’s demands being met.
Cameron’s lawyer, Tony Astaphan, has already started performing the legal gymnastics to divert attention away from his client. Appearing on the Mason and Guest radio talk show in Barbados, Astaphan noted that the structure of the CWI remains a board of directors and all decisions were taken and approved at that level.
“If the auditor is in fact making so-called findings on matters that were dealt with by the board and they are so concerned about irregularities and abuses; the directors, including the present ones, from top to bottom, are going to have to come forward and explain their votes to the region and the shareholders,” Astaphan was quoted as saying.
The tip of the iceberg has been revealed and long suffering West Indies cricket fans are starting to ask questions to which they need answers. The players are still owed fees for the January home series versus Ireland and the away tour of Sri Lanka in February and March. CWI is in deep financial trouble.
If this is a basic audit, what will a forensic one reveal? The cat is out of the bag CWI. It is time to release the PKF report and let the fans know the truth.
