The three-member committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC) tasked to review the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 has come to a decision that favors full forensic audit and may hire an external company for the purpose.
This comes a day after ICC revealed that they had appointed Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khwaja with unfettered powers to look into this matter.
All members of the ICC have consented to having an inquiry on how the just concluded T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA was run. The governing body believes that there were financial irregularities as well as fiscal mismanagement during the tournament.
“The panel was granted unlimited power to conduct this study by consensus. There are high chances that an outside firm will be hired for detailed forensic audit of the 2024 T20 World Cup including going through all details and transactions,” said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity as quoted by Parami News.
Last week, two senior officials at ICC resigned from office after many years. Chris Tetley who led these events and Claire Furlong in charge of marketing and communications both quit their positions at cricket controlling body thus bringing about a significant change in its leadership structure.
Publicly undisclosed reasons for quitting ICC notwithstanding; Furlong’s contribution to organization’s activities is notable hence her stepping aside alongside Tetley who had been instrumental in creating company’s event calendar and communicating it externally throughout his tenure at corporation.
On Monday, ICC held its Annual Conference, which took four days, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The agenda included meetings of Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) and Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee among others.
According to various sources within ICC membership, if any acts of improper finance are discovered through ongoing investigations then consequences will trickle down into senior management team. This would also imply resignation by both Greg Barclay- Chairman of ICC Board- and Geoff Allardice- Chief Executive Officer.
Further, it is said that the committee has been given powers to monitor Tetley and Furlong’s actions closely. They may decide whether it is necessary to restrict their physical access to work or even suspend them until the investigation is complete.
“Two ICC employees have already resigned but the committee will consider their position during World Cup. The panel will have free hand to either recommend suspension or restriction from duty,” continued our source.
“Doing right by everyone is necessary and as much as possible, this must be seen by others about ICC too. ICC being a global governing body for cricket is responsible directly of its members and fans around the globe. It was lacking transparency in many ways throughout all times because it wasn’t open enough,” according to people familiar with discussions taking place about these events.
