CSA audit result delayed

The outcome of a long awaited external audit into the financial affairs of Cricket South Africa (CSA) was still not known by Saturday afternoon.

The board was discussing the findings and recommendations of accountancy firm KPMG, in Kempton Park.

KPMG was asked to conduct a forensic audit into the Section 21 company, two years after unofficial bonuses were paid to the cricket body’s chief executive, Gerald Majola, and 40 staff members  for the hosting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Champions Trophy tournaments in 2009.

The delay was apparently due to the board not agreeing to sign off resolutions to accept the KPMG findings.

The findings will conclude the controversy surrounding Majola and senior CSA staff members, who were awarded R4.7 million in addition to the extraordinary bonuses paid to them by CSA at the end of the 2009/2010 financial year.

Majola had not disclosed the R1.7 million he received from the IPL and ICC when CSA, with the approval of the remuneration committee Remco, awarded him a bonus eight times his monthly salary  for the successful hosting of the 2009 IPL.

When the unofficial bonuses came to light, CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka repeatedly called for an external investigation into the body’s financial affairs.

CSA’s own auditors, Deloitte, also strongly advised an independent enquiry but the board opted for an internal review and Majola received a slap on the wrist for not following procedure and  was told to make sure all future bonus payments were cleared by Remco.

Nyoka, though, continued to raise his concerns about financial irregularities and, as a result, was ousted by CSA’s board in February.

He took the matter to the South Gauteng High Court and CSA was ordered to reinstate him with immediate effect.

Nyoka also claimed R68 million had gone missing from a CSA bank account but the federation said the money had been held on behalf of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as running costs of the 2009 IPL.

It was revealed in June, after CSA had ordered the audit, that three staff members, including Majola, had awarded themselves R1.9 million in bonuses without revealing the full figures to the federation’s board.