NOC Secretary General blames government auditor for audit delays
Less than a fortnight since the general NOC membership joined together to fight the current administration, the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC) this week started dialogue with its general membership for the first time since 2013.
An email communiqué sent by Maxwell de Silva, SecretaryGeneral of the Sri Lanka Olympic movement, to its membership has requested their observations, comments and suggestions on certain clauses of the proposed new constitution before October 28. This deadline is just 12 days ahead of the scheduled General Assembly on November 9.
A copy of the proposed constitution too, was shared with a certain section of the membership, only six months after the International Olympic Committee ( IOC) urged the administration to distribute it among members before an Extraordinary General Assembly.
“We assume that this draft has already been discussed with your NOC Executive Board/ and NOC membership ( Federations)," Jérôme Poivey, head of Institutional Relations and Governance, NOC Relations Department, IOC, wrote to de Silva on April 5, 2017. "However, in all cases, we will request that you circulate the final draft to all members of your NOC for information and comments before you convene formally the Extraordinary General Assembly of your NOC which will have to consider and adopt the revised Constitution."
However, no copy was shared with the membership until this week. A format was provided for submissions, requesting these associations to pay attention to some clauses in the draft constitution. The new constitution is expected to be ratified and adopted at the General Assembly which is scheduled for November 9.
According to the letter, de Silva and NOC President Hemasiri Fernando--who have been holding onto their positions without elections since 2013(The last election was held in 2009)-- have met officials of both IOC and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) during the 5th Asian Indoor and Marshall Art Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The letter claims that IOC and OCA have demanded the long overdue election of office bearers by end 2017, notwithstanding current implications arising due to its conflict with certain clauses of the country’s Sports Regulations.
“At the meeting, we briefed them of the current sports regulations and the status of Sports Law which is not being amended as yet,” de Silva wrote to the members on October 10. “We also briefed them about the 6- 7 members of NOC ( out of current 24 members) whose AGM were not conducted and are managed by the ministry, thus preventing them attending our GA etc... which will affect the voting majority."
The Secretary General appears to have given a wrong picture to the world body by not stating that four of the six members mentioned are disqualified from serving the committee, due to court cases. ( Given that the proposed new constitution, disqualifies them from representing their relevant sports associations in the Olympic Committee, when court cases are ongoing (Article 6(4) (f)).
The letter elaborates that the IOC/OCA asked them to conduct the election of office bearers and to call for a Special General Meeting on a later date to pass the audited accounts. This, however, is a gross violation of the country’s Sports Regulations which makes it mandatory for all sports bodies to circulate their audited accounts before an Annual General Meeting.
“Further, we indicated that our accounts are being audited by the Government Auditor and there is an inordinate delay in completing the audits as such there is a back log since 2012, making it difficult for NOC to have the AGM without producing accounts,” de Silva wrote.
This gives the impression that the production of accounts was delayed by the Auditor General's (AG) office. It does not convey that the backlog from 2012 to date was caused by delays in finalising the accounts for submission for audit by NOC Sri Lanka. They were finally submitted to the AG's office for audits only during the second half of 2017-- that, too, without being tabled at an Executive Committee meeting, which again is a gross violation of the procedures.
The NOC has not submitted their accounts for auditing since 2010. According to the National Associations of Spor t s Regulations No. 1 of 2016, holding an election of office bearers without submitting the audited financial statements disqualifies the President, Secretary, and Treasurer from contesting elections (Article 5(v)).
“We indicated to IOC that the Auditing of accounts for the previous years by Auditor General was not completed hence at an AGM we cannot table our accounts which is one of the agenda points as per the constitution, therefore under the said conditions, announcing an AGM is practically not possible,” de Silva wrote.
“Having placed the above, and as we both were of the view that we ought to have our Elections in 2017, IOC/ OCA advised that we should conduct our elections for the Officer Bearers / Executive Committee and thereafter call for a Special General Meeting to adopt the accounts at a later date when same is made available by Auditor General’s Office, thereby not delaying the election of the Executive Committee beyond the end of 2017."
De Silva, who has not sought a mandate from the Executive Committee before making representation on behalf of the NOCSL, concludes by saying the failure to follow IOC instructions may result in tough sanctions from the international body.
“This is the process agreed and implemented with the blessings of IOC/OCA, and if we fail to adhere to the above due to various elements now trying to disrupt, we all will be faced with tough sanctions from IOC which we wanted to avoid at any cost which will be detriment to the NOCSL," he states.
“There won’t be a NOC if IOC recognition is withdrawn due to us, not adhering to their calls which please be reminded. All the concerns of Members could be addressed and we assure you that we will always play with a straight bat,” he concludes.
But one member who is yet to receive a copy of the new draft constitution asked: “How straight is the bat? It has been circulated to a select few only."