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“US $ 3 million ECB loan as” helping hand “, not a condition for a tour of England”

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CWI chief Skerritt denies that a loan was granted in connection with the election of the ICC chairman

Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Ricky Skerritt has put down speculation linking the West Indies tour of England to a $ 3 million ECB loan to CWI in May, a loan that eventually became the subject of a The ICC’s ethics investigation was conducted. Skerritt also denied that the loan secured the CWI’s support for Colin Graves – the outgoing ECB chief – for the post of ICC chairman, whose elections are due in July.

Instead, Skerritt said the loan is a “helping hand” given CWI’s dire financial position exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Skerritt said CWI is transparent to ICC about the need for short-term credit and the involvement of the ECB. He said it seemed to him that the issue was being “inflated” for “political” purposes only, mostly by “roguish individuals who care little about the welfare” of cricket.

Skerritt said the only prerequisite for the tour was the safety of its players and once that was ensured, the tour would go on as it was part of the ICC FTP Agreement and the World Test Championship

ALSO READ: Players traveling to England are right in the middle of the story – Skerritt

“It was all about when the tour would take place and whether the ECB could assure the medical experts at the CWI that the health risk would be minimal to ensure the safety of our players and staff.” Skerritt told ESPNcricnfo on Friday. “Money had nothing to do with our final decision to take this tour. Reaching out a hand to pay off is not the way CWI does business.”

The CWI had reached out to the ICC in April this year to request “an advance” of US $ 3 million – an advance against the annual dividend the ICC grants its member countries twice a year in January and July .

The ICC apparently asked CWI to conduct an external review of future cash flow as the payment would be made three months in advance. A forecast that, given the circumstances of the pandemic, CWI was unable to deliver quickly or with certainty beyond its control.

Additional pressure on CWI came from outstanding player match fee payments that have accrued since January of this year, as well as the need to pay its staff. The pandemic made matters worse as it undid the Board of Directors’ global broadcast partnerships for their home series against New Zealand and South Africa.

“We urgently needed cash,” said Skerritt. “The communication [with ICC] It looked like it would take a long time to get approval and CWI had no other reliable source of money at the time. “

Skerritt then turned to the ECB.

“CWI asked the ECB if they could pay the advance instead, with the ICC providing the security,” he said. “The ECB has agreed that ICC will then repay the advance directly in July. ICC’s tax officials have always been fully aware of the transparent agreements and soon became a legal party to the loan agreement.”

“No Willful Injury” – ICC Ethics Officer

Not everyone was convinced by the ICC, however, and an informal inquiry prompted its ethics officer to investigate any possible inappropriateness. Both the investigation and the ethics officer’s clean slip were not made public. However, according to the Indo-Asian News Service, the investigation was launched at the behest of ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, who has reportedly asked internally whether it is related to the upcoming ICC chairman elections. According to the IANS, the ethics officer received the application on April 30th.

The ethics officer came to the conclusion that neither of the two bodies committed “willful violations”. He said it was “clear beyond doubt” that the agreement between the CWI and the ECB was “in accordance with their urgent and necessary business and cricket reasons”.

“I confirm that I do not believe that the loan was granted or received in connection with or in connection with the upcoming election of a new ICC chairman,” the official said.

“It’s all political”

“The negative result of the ICC ethics investigation was predictable,” said Skerritt. “The investigation upset me personally because it put my own integrity at risk, especially when it looked like I was collateral damage. And it was extremely unfair to Colin [Graves], who responded to CWI’s request to expedite an advance that ICC would likely have given anyway. The loan funds were intended for our working capital to keep CWI going for the period between that time and the time we receive the next ICC distribution funds from the ICC in mid-July. “

According to Skerritt, this was not the first time CWI has borrowed money from another full member country. When he took the helm in 2019, Skerritt said CWI had received a $ 6 million loan it borrowed from the ICC in 2016 and a similar advance of $ 2 million in 2018 from the Bangladesh Cricket Board . “I was not [CWI] President at the time we borrowed money from Bangladesh, and I have no idea if an ICC ethics investigation followed. “

“There are too many people in and around cricket who care more about politics than cricket,” he added. “That’s what this is about. It’s blown up for political purposes only, mostly by roguish people who care little about the welfare of cricket.”

Nagraj Gollapudi is the news editor at ESPNcricinfo

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