ANALYSIS: Cricket SA evoke ghosts of bonus scandal over T20GL mess

Cricket South Africa (CSA) say they are investigating what went wrong with the postponed T20 Global League (T20GL) but they do not promise the probe is independent.

“The board has approved the commencement of a broad scope investigation into the internal processes on all aspects of the T20GL‚ as undertaken by various parties during the period of the establishment of the league‚” CSA said in a release on Wednesday.

“These investigations have already commenced.

“The scope of the investigation will in principle cover the planning and execution of the T20GL with specific focus on‚ inter alia‚ aspects of governance‚ agreements concluded‚ payments‚ staff recruitment‚ authorisation and delegation of authority‚ league development strategy‚ decision making etc.

“The board shall await receipt of the findings emanating from the investigation‚ and thereafter consider its options going forward.”

The release ends with a promise that the CSA is “committed to conducting credible and valid investigations for the benefit of the game and a successful inaugural T20GL tournament in November 2018” but warns that the board will “make no further media comments on the matter”.

None of the 400 words comprising the release refers to the most important aspect of such matters: independence.

The CSA should know better than to investigate themselves.

They kept their probe in-house after it was discovered that R4,7 million in bonuses paid to staff after the 2009 Indian Premier League‚ which was played in South Africa‚ had not been properly declared to their governance structures.

Gerald Majola‚ who was chief executive back then‚ was cleared of wrongdoing. But an independent investigation was ordered by the sports ministry and Majola was fired after he was found guilty of transgressing the Companies Act four times.

That led to CSA board being restructured to include independent directors.

The T20GL‚ which was supposed to start on November 3‚ was put on ice for a year on October 10.

That followed the CSA’s announcement on September 28 that they were parting ways immediately with Majola’s successor‚ Haroon Lorgat — the driving force behind establishing the T20GL.

The CSA have said the troubled tournament will cost them $25 million‚ or half their cash reserves.

“It must be emphasised that the board took this decision [to postpone the T20GL] in order to avert any potential financial ruin and reputational damage to the organisation‚” the release said.

The CSA have not blamed Lorgat for the debacle‚ perhaps because they are in the throes of negotiating a settlement with him for a contract that was valid until 2019.

But board members have complained of a lack of information on the tournament‚ despite having set up a special T20GL sub-committee that included two of their independent directors.