CSA Allow External Exam. of Finances, Reinstate President

Mtutuzeli Nyoka has been reinstated as president of Cricket South Africa (CSA) while the body agreed to allow external auditors to examine its finances after allegations emerged that R68m (US$10m) earmarked for the 2009 Indian Premier League (IPL) had gone missing from its accounts.

In response to reports of financial irregularities the CSA revealed it had decided “to institute an external investigation including a forensic audit” at a meeting of its board in Johannesburg. Allegations have also emerged that improper bonuses were paid to CSA executives.

The CSA also confirmed yesterday, May 4, that it had reinstated Nyoka, who was removed as president after making the original allegations, only for the South Gauteng High Court to rule last month that his sacking was illegal.

Nyoka alleged in court papers that funds went missing from CSA’s accounts following the 2009 IPL, staged in South Africa after terrorist attacks in Mumbai forced the Twenty20 competition to be shifted from India. CSA has denied any wrongdoing and insisted the money did not appear in its regular accounts because it belonged to IPL organisers.

A CSA statement read: “The board has agreed, in the interests of cricket, to abide the judgment handed down. Accordingly, Dr Nyoka has been reinstated as president and chairman of the board of directors with immediate effect. The meeting unanimously agreed to abandon any appeal process in relation to the judgment.”

Nyoka had long called for an external audit into the national cricket body’s accounts, questioning the bonuses reportedly paid to chief executive Gerald Majola and other CSA staff, and told the Associated Press: “It is a great outcome for all concerned, especially cricket. It (an external audit) is something I have been consistent about.”