Mumbai: The conflict of interest has been haunting many BCCI officials over the years. Ever since Shashank Manohar took charge of Indian cricket governing body, the board has attempted to be as transparent as possible. An ombudsman Justice AP Shah was also appointed to look specifically into conflict of interest issues that were raised by journalists.
Current President Anurag Thakur too is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure the clause doesn’t fall prey to any sort of tainted news.
Read: India coach Anil Kumble rubbishes conflict of interest
While Ravi Shastri-Sourav Ganguly tussle is hogging most of the spotlight in cricket, in a fresh development questions are being raised over the selection procedure for interview of Team India’s head coach.
Anil Kumble may have been anointed as coach for the next one year but his elevation for the top post has come under the scanner. It has now emerged that Kumble’s selection was done by a former cricketer, who was part of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and more so is a major stakeholder in the former India skipper’s company.
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The cricketer is none other than VVS Laxman. The other members of the CAC include Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. These three were primarily responsible for choosing Kumble as head coach.
The revelations raise serious questions on the selection of Kumble and Laxman’s role in the rejection of other candidates who had applied to be Team India’s coach. It is also a glaring instance of conflict of interest in Indian cricket.
According to a report in ‘dna’, documents show that Laxman is the second largest shareholder in Kumble’s company, Tenvic Sports Education Private Limited.
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As on June 23, when Laxman was part of the CAC that picked Kumble as coach, the Hyderabad batsman continued to hold 33,332 shares in Tenvic Sports. Laxman is also an ‘icon’ in Tenvic and is entitled to a substantial amount of money in the form of incentives from the company.
Started in 2011, the company based in Bengaluru deals with marketing and training, according to the company’s website.
Documents further reveal that Laxman held 16,666 equity shares in Kumble’s business in 2012. The next year the shareholding doubled to 33,332 shares. Laxman paid a nominal sum for doubling his stake.
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The report also goes on to state that Kumble had enlisted the services of former badminton player Prakash Padukone and table tennis player Sharath Kamal. Both Padukone and Kamal along with Laxman were shareholders in Kumble’s company.
Laxman along with others also received money from Kumble for services rendered by them to the company, in addition to the shareholding. However, it is unclear as to how much the money amounted to.
The report also claims to have had a look at the financial statements of Kumble’s company which reveal that almost Rs 7 crore was paid between 2012 to 2014. Apart from that, another Rs 3 crore was paid during this period as bonus and incentives. Employee benefits amounted to Rs 3.2 crore.
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It is unclear if Ganguly or Tendulkar were aware about Laxman’s association with Kumble but neither of them raised this conflict of interest issue with the Justice AP Shah.
