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KCA rebuts corruption charges

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) on Friday rebutted all corruption charges made against it by the Kerala Cricketers Forum (KCF) through its white paper on Kerala cricket at a press conference here on August 28.

Addressing a press conference after a central council meeting, the KCA president, T.R. Balakrishnan said the most of the charges made by the KCF were vague and made with malicious intent with the sole aim of tarnishing the image of the association besides creating confusion among the media and the public at large.

Making a point-to-point rebuttal, the KCA secretary, T.C. Mathew said the expert committee which was appointed to go into the findings of the two-member internal audit has found that there was misappropriation of funds only to the tune of Rs.1,20,430 and not Rs. 8,68,055 as reported by the internal audit panel.

The matter has since then been reported to the statutory auditors and they too have recommended action against the KCA staff after ascertaining through cyber experts whether the forged bills for Rs.1,20,430 were raised using the KCA office computers.

Mr. Mathew also made it clear that he was prepared to resign as KCA secretary if allegations that his home district association (Idukki DCA) had made a proposal to have an indoor practice facility in Idukki were proved true. “We had never asked for assistance for such a facility. What we had asked for was assistance for the construction of two concrete pitches, one turf pitch and a store room at St. George High School, Mutalakodam as per the recommendation of the KCA technical committee.”

However, the KCA secretary was at loss of words when asked how the KCA, despite having a common bye-law for the DCA’s, had submitted different versions of the bye-law in courts where litigation was on against it. Also, he failed to answer whether the KCA has since then informed the various courts about such a mistake having occurred on its part.

The only explanation was that the mistake could have occurred when copies of the same were generated from the office computer. The KCA secretary also chose to skip the question on how the association, ignoring its bye-laws and the relevant provisions of the Act in which it was registered, gave honorariums to its central council members after initially stating that the decision to do so was taken after suspending the existing bye-laws.

Asked whether there were provisions to suspend the bye-laws in the Association’s constitution, the KCA secretary quickly corrected himself by stating that the central council members were paid for their out-of-pocket expenses and not honorariums. He said that the Kannur DCA has been asked to explain on how its accounts were signed by a non-qualified chartered accountant. Besides, the two key-office bearers, the press conference was also attended by A. Salim (KCA treasurer), S. Haridas and R. Radhakrishnan (KCA vice-presidents) and P.V. Sirajuddin (KCA joint secretary).

In the meanwhile, reacting to the KCA’s outright denial of the charges, the KCF spokesman, K. Balaji Iyengar told The Hindu from Kottayam that most of the points raised by the KCA were too vague and a litany of lies. “I would also like to point out that the Idukki DCA had in fact sought assistance to the tune of Rs. 3.3 lakh for an indoor practice facility at the KCA central council meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on June 19, 2005,” he said. — Special Correspondent

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