Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Moroe probe going nowhere slowly
CRICKET South Africa was expected to take possession of the first part of a report from forensic investigators about its suspended chief executive Thabang Moroe yesterday, but that initial report will not contain any perspective from the side of Moroe himself.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Sport, Arts and Culture, the federation admitted that the investigators made various attempts to consult Moroe, but he refused to speak to them.
Moroe’s lawyer Michael Bill acknowledged that was indeed mostly the case. “It’s half true,” said Bill. “We haven’t engaged on the substance of any allegation.”
“Very recently they wanted to talk to us, we said they said about what, and that was the extent of the conversation,” Bill added.
Meanwhile, Cricket SA’s president Chris Nenzani told the Committee that the organisation’s Members Council - made up of the 14 provincial presidents - would peruse the first part of the forensic report “in the next few days,” and if need be any “required action would be taken as soon as possible.”
Nenzani told the committee that the investigators had been given a reasonably wide scope to cover in their inquiry and had access to records dating back as far as two years. Among areas the auditors were asked to cover were; the effectiveness of Cricket SA internal controls and whether CSA’s funds were used for the purposes intended.
The full report was due to be completed at the end of the month and would be submitted to the Members
Council. “In as far as the law allows we’ll share information in the report with the public and this committee,” Nenzani added.
While outlining CSA’s financial status to the committee, acting chief executive Dr Jacques Faul said the federation’s finances had not been severely impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown mainly because the South African season had virtually ended and that critically the international portion of the season which had featured lucrative incoming tours by England and Australia had already been completed.
Faul said CSA would indicate a profit when its financial statements are released at its Annual General Meeting, scheduled for September.
As for the much publicised ‘Project 654’ - the measures to alleviate the forecast debt of R654-million first made known to the committee two years ago - Faul said the organisation would be in a position to reduce that figure by between R120-million and R150-million when the four period ends in April next year.
Nevertheless the loss of Standard Bank, who poured R73-million a year into cricket as a sponsor will hurt CSA, especially in the current economic climate which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. “The International sponsor we have signed is not at that level, it’s at about 50% of (what Standard Bank were putting in),” said Faul, who added that CSA was still looking for a team sponsor for the men’s national team.