GORDON
ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, CMC:
GREGORY GEORGES and Avondale Thomas have expressed grave concern over the publication of certain aspects of the West Indies Cricket Board's Sponsorship Negotiations Review Committee report.
Georges and Thomas were part of the Committee appointed on June 2 with Justice Anthony Lucky of Trinidad & Tobago that examined the process by which the WICB replaced Cable & Wireless with Digicel as sponsors of West Indies cricket. The two Antigua & Barbuda-based auditors believe that leakage of bits of the report only serves to compromise the integrity of the findings and the committee members.
"We wish in particular to completely disassociate ourselves from the declaration made by the committee's chairman, Mr. Justice Anthony Lucky, which appeared in the Trinidad Guardian on August 21, 2005, and is replicated in other regional media," wrote Georges and Thomas in a statement that was sent exclusively to CMC Sports. "That declaration is the chairman's personal document, and does not in any way form part of the committee's conclusions or recommendations as reported by the media."
The Guardian reported that Lucky said the Digicel sponsorship agreement was never ratified, and in these circumstances, he felt the contract could be declared null and void.
Georges and Thomas disclosed that nowhere in the committee's conclusions or recommendations is any call made for renegotiation of the contract or is there any pronouncement that the contract itself was null and void.
DECLARATION
"The chairman did advise us of his personal declaration and the contents therein, but we then and there told him that we did not share his view," the two auditors stated.
"Further, we view the continued disclosure of confidential information relating to the committee's report as an attempt to distort the findings of the committee.
We strongly deplore such behaviour and regret that it is necessary to make this statement."
The contents of the report will remain confidential until new WICB president Ken Gordon and the board of directors have read and discussed the findings, before it is released to the public. Media reports circulating throughout the region have indicated that the report seriously questioned the legality of the WICB's contract with Digicel.
