Court says Srinivasan guilty of conflict of interest

(Agencies) NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court ordered Thursday world cricket chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan to give up his stake in the Indian Premier League if he wanted to be re-elected head of the country’s powerful board.

The court found Srinivasan guilty of a conflict of interest for having commercial dealings in the sport while head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by owning an Indian Premier League franchise.

“Srinivasan or any other administrator can’t contest elections (to the BCCI) (while) they have those interests,” the two-judge bench was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

The court was ruling on the findings of a panel it appointed last year to investigate betting and other scandals in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).

Srinivasan, 70, is managing director of India Cements which owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise captained by India skipper Mahendra Dhoni.

Although the court on Thursday absolved Srinivasan of any specific wrongdoing, it struck down an IPL rule which allowed BCCI members to own a team in the popular Twenty20 tournament.

Srinivasan, appointed International Cricket Council chief last year, has not yet commented on whether he will run for the BCCI president’s post at elections in six weeks time for a second term or give up his stake in the Chennai Super Kings.

The court had barred Srinivasan from carrying out his duties as BCCI president, a post he held since 2011, until it delivered its final verdict.

The court also appointed Thursday a panel headed by a former chief justice of India to recommend changes to BCCI rules to avoid any future conflict of interest by its members.

The court agreed with the Mudgal panel that Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan took part in illegal betting while a team official of the Chennai Super Kings, as did Raj Kundra, owner of the Rajasthan Royals.

The sixth IPL season last year was mired in controversy after police launched legal proceedings against several officials and cricketers, including former Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, for illegal betting and spot-fixing.

International news organisations including Agence France-Presse have suspended on-field coverage of matches hosted by the BCCI since 2012 after the board imposed restrictions on picture agencies.

BCCI begins corruption probe Againts 5 Players

The BCCI has begun its investigation of the corruption charges against five players, with Shalabh Srivastava deposing before its inquiry commission in New Delhi. 

The hearing was conducted by Ravi Sawani, head of the new anti-corruption wing announced by the BCCI on Saturday. Sawani, whose last job was heading the ICC's ACSU, has been given 15 days to carry out his investigation and report to the BCCI.

Srivastava, part of the Kings XI Punjab squad before his suspension on Tuesday, was allegedly caught on tape negotiating a fee for bowling a no-ball; India TV, which carried out the sting, ran the audio of the tape and showed footage of a player bowling a big no-ball in a limited-overs match. Srivastava has since denied any such incident.

No official comment was made on the hearing, which was held at the Maurya Sheraton hotel. It is believed that while Srivastava attended in person, and was seen at the hotel for more than an hour, the rest were contacted over the phone.

Sawani - who forms the one-man committee - will give the players time to present their defence both in person and in writing. It is also understood that at this stage there will be no legal personnel involved on either side.

This will be Sawani's first test, less than a week after his appointment to the job and before he has had time to either become acquainted with workings of the board or assemble a team.

The other players suspended by the BCCI are Mohnish Mishra, T P Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali. Mishra remained in Pune, where he has been suspended by his IPL team Pune Warriors. However, a Warriors official said he was being given "the benefit of doubt" until his case was completely heard.

Another franchise, Kings XI Punjab - which has two players, Srivastava and Yadav, implicated in the sting - issued a media release, stating that it would support the investigation and abide by any decision eventually taken by the BCCI if any player was found guilty. The statement echoed comments made to reporters by the team captain David Hussey.

Meanwhile, India's sports minister Ajay Maken said the BCCI's probe should go deeper than just the five players. "I have already said, and I am emphasising again that BCCI should go into the root cause of the problem," he said. "Suspension of five players is not enough. BCCI has to come out with a long-term solution to sort out this mess."

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IPL council suspends five players , (Pictures )

The IPL governing council has suspended five players named by a sting operation alleging corruption until an inquiry into the accusations is conducted. TP Sudhindra (Deccan Chargers), Mohnish Mishra (Pune Warriors), Shalabh Srivastava (Kings XI Punjab), Amit Yadav (Kings XI Punjab) and Abhinav Bali were suspended, according to IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla.

"The above players would not be entitled to participate in any cricket match played under the aegis of the BCCI while under suspension," N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, said in a statement. 

Shukla said Ravi Sawani, the former head of the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), will conduct the inquiry. "The conversation [in the sting] is about other matches also, which are not IPL, or in previous IPLs," Shukla said after the meeting on Tuesday. "After due consideration, the BCCI president has decided to have an inquiry for which a commissioner has been appointed, Mr Ravi Sawani. He will be conducting the preliminary inquiry. His report will be sent to the disciplinary committee."

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