Rungta demands inquiry into Bindra's financial dealings

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, MAY 13. The former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Chairman, Finance Committee, BCCI for six years, Mr. Purshottham Rungta on Saturday demanded an inquiry into the financial dealings by Mr. Inder Singh Bindra, saying, ``it had caused loss of crores of rupees to the BCCI.''

``The financial dealings were not beyond suspicion and only a probe by a high powered committee and the FERA can bring out the extent of financial damage by Mr. Bindra,'' said Mr. Rungta in a signed statement presented at a press conference at the Cooch Behar Room, Cricket Club of India (CCI).

Neither did Mr. Rungta quantify the loss to the Board, or specified in what capacity he was levelling charges against Mr. Bindra, but said, ``I wear so many hats'' and that it was Mr. Bindra who has forced it upon him to dig up the past, specifically on money matters for which accounts have not been submitted by the former BCCI President and also execution of a contract with a soft drink giant, Pepsi Foods Limited.

``He (Mr. Bindra) was the President of the Board then and he needed to be trusted. Even now, I don't doubt him, yet he has forced it on me to place before public certain issues. He (Mr. Bindra) congratulated the Marketing Committee of the BCCI for awarding the worldwide television rights to Prasar Bharathi. He even wrote a letter to the Board to this effect and told the press that it was a good decision. But soon he filed a suit in the Bombay High Court saying that awarding the contract to Prasar Bharathi has resulted in loss of revenue by Rs. 600 crores to the Board.''

Mr. Rungta released a letter written by Mr. Bindra to Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya (dated 4.9. 1996). This is in regard to the sponsorship contract for Rs. 30 crores with Pepsi for Tests and one-day internationals. ``Keeping in view of the confidentiality of the agreement, I will suggest that instead of sending a photocopy of the agreement to all staging associations, as was done earlier, you may send salient clauses of the agreement indicating the rights and privileges of Pepsi and rights of the staging association in terms of the agreement,'' has said Mr. Bindra.

According to Mr. Rungta, execution of the contract by Mr. Bindra was an act of impropriety. According to him all the contracts, by rules and conventions, are executed by the Hon. Secretary of the Board and that Mr. Bindra negotiated and finalised the contract that contained certain terms and conditions that were not in the Board's interest and were beyond the terms and conditions of the original contract.

``Mr. Bindra had no jurisdiction to include any new clause. Yet he included at least three clauses that could have resulted in a loss of about Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 crores, had it been allowed to continue. I did not agree to the changes suggested by him, especially to a clause which provided that the sponsor would not pay any money if there was no live telecast in 70 lakh homes in India. This was possibly the reason why he instructed the then Hon. Secretary (Jagmohan Dalmiya) not to circulate the contract to the members of the Board contrary to the system prevailing in the Board for the last 30 years,'' said. Mr. Rungta.

Mr. Rungta confirmed that the BCCI's Working Committee had approved an expenditure of pound sterling 36,576.40 for the ICC Presidency of Mr. J. Dalmiya. ``This money was used for legal opinion and other purposes because it was reported the associate members cannot vote at the ICC meeting. Mr. Bindra has said this money was used to buy votes. Every penny has been accounted for and details are with the Board. The Board applied to the Government and got the foreign exchange officially.''

The President of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, Mr. Rungta, added that, ``During the same period (July 1996) Mr. Bindra had taken a further amount of Pound Sterling 7, 500 from the Board on the plea of attending meetings in connection with the ICC Presidency and entertaining various ICC associate members. Though the accounts for Pound Sterling 36,576.40 were available, no accounts had been furnished by Mr. Bindra. Nor did he return the money. I urge the Board to refer the matter to the FERA.''

``The list of financial irregularities by Mr. Bindra is long and I am coming out with only a few. I would come out with other irregularities shortly. He (Mr. Bindra) has been talking about a India v New Zealand match at Sharjah being fixed, which certainly needs an in-depth inquiry. But at the same time, I would like to know who paid for Mr. Bindra's airfares, board and lodge at Sharjah when he was not the Board President. Was Mr. Bindra a guest of Sharjah authorities ? He (Mr. Bindra) is so obsessed with Sharjah that he not only attended the tournaments in the desert regularly, but also gave special mementoes worth Rs. 81,000 on the Board's account to the Sharjah authorities on the occasion of the 100th one-day international there in April 1996.''

``Mr. Bindra claims to possess very high moral. He has asked for accounts of the Rajasthan Cricket Association to be reviewed for 40 years. I welcome him to inspect the accounts. He can choose the auditor of his choice. But it could also be an interesting subject for the Indian public as to what was his role as the convenor of the World Cup the subcontinent hosted 14 years ago if its accounts are revisited. Even though the convenor of the 1987 World Cup was an honorary post, why did he charge fees from the Board ? Would Mr. Bindra clarify,'' asked Mr. Rungta.

BCCI meeting in Delhi

MUMBAI, MAY 14. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President, Mr. A. C. Muthiah, has convened an extraordinary meeting of the Board on May 20 in New Delhi to discuss threadbare the allegations of bribe, match-fixing and corruption in cricket and also take appropriate action. The BCCI's Working Committee will meet on May 19.

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