BCCI CEO’S SC affidavit reveals treasurer wanted to ‘finish’ CFO
NEW DELHI : In a dramatic turn of events, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India have filed affidavits in the Supreme Court against the BCCI treasurer’s behaviour, contending it is affecting work in the Mumbai headquarters.
CEO Rahul Johri and CFO Santosh Rangnekar filed separate affidavits in the Supreme Court earlier this week. Both eloquently describe how treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry’s intimidating behaviour In January and October last year had left them scarred. Johri and Rangnekar’s complaints are complete with all emails exchanged among them.
Johri and Rangnekar have pointed out that Chaudhry has been a major hurdle in the implementation of the reforms proposed by the RM Lodha panel. In July 18, 2016, the Supreme Court had made the reforms binding on the BCCI and constituted a Committee of Administrators in January 2017 to execute them.
Among several things related to operating the BCCI’S bank account, Johri’s affidavit points to growing animosity between the CFO and the treasurer, who had lost the authority to be a signatory. Johri narrates how Chaudhry had told Rangnekar “he was planning to file an FIR against the CFO and CEO for misappropriating BCCI’S funds by making payments to vendors from the imprest account with Union Bank, Nariman Point.”
The affidavit adds that “the treasurer had told the CFO that even if the FIR ultimately turned out to be false or was rejected by the court, the CFO’S life for the next two years would be totally finished by that time.”
It says Chaudhry had threatened the CFO saying “if he had been in Haryana, the CFO would have evaporated by now and no one would have ever known of his existence.” Chaudhry, the son of former BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra, denied the allegations.
Johri says Chaudhry went to the extent of telling the CFO to “have potassium cyanide” and “finish him” if Rangnekar made even one mistake.
The CEO and CFO have appealed to the Supreme Court that the delay in implementation of the Lodha reforms has allowed officials like Chaudhry thrive.
Recently, several BCCI units met in Mumbai to discuss the pros and cons of accepting the Lodha reforms that mandates age and tenure caps, one-state-onevote and the formation of a powerful apex council.
The BCCI continues to be run by “acting” officials and the COA (reduced to a two-member body from the original four) are unable to take decisions due to the vested interests of certain officials.