Speculation is rife as to whether the ICC’s anti-corruption official warned Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan against betting on spot-fixing but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke did raise the issue of the ownership of certain teams in the domestic T20 leagues at last ICC board meeting.
“Mr Clarke reported that Mr Singh (Yogendra Pal Singh, the ICC’s anti-corruption and security head) had explained in a meeting the previous day that his biggest concern was in respect of the identity of the owners of certain domestic franchises, and the lack of transparent process around how those fanchises had been awarded and how they could financially be sustained,” states the minutes of the ICC board meeting, a copy of which is in our possession.
Interestingly, the said board meeting in April 2013, was attended by N. Srinivasan and an official of Sri Lanka Cricket and questions were raised about the ownerships of a few teams in the IPL and the SLPL.
Following ICC’s Ethics officer (Sean Cleary) report, which reminded directors of their obligation under clause 4 in respect of conflicts of interest, emphasising that directors ought to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest. The Ethics officer went on to explain that clause 3 of the current Code of Ethics requires that when directors are acting as ICC board members, they must act in accordance with the interest of the ICC. N. Srinivasan asserted that the BCCI didn’t agree with that principle and maintained that his position was such that he was representing the BCCI.