BCB forms committee to investigate past financial deals

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), amid rumours of transparency in financial activities, has created a five-member committee to review all major monetary matters undertaken from January 2000 to July 29, 2007. The committee, headed by Abdul Momen, will evaluate all commercial commercial contracts, major purchases and tenders and expenses on development projects.

The decision was taken during the third executive meeting of the BCB's adhoc committee. The team has been given a preliminary three months to conduct its review and report back to the board. One of the main goals is to examine the major television deals signed under the various tenures of the BCB, the wealthiest sports body in the country. There have been complaints about financial indiscretions during previous BCB tenures, specifically a TV deal with the ESPNStar network.

Monowar Anis Khan, chair of the audit committee, will act as vice-chairman. The committee also consists of lawyer Ashraful Islam, banker Salim RF Hossain and RM Hasan.

"We have been given a parameter because we have to do the work within a time frame. The most important thing is that you have to start work from a certain period of time," Momen told the Daily Star. "Otherwise it would be a never-ending job. What you must consider is whether this timeframe would allow us to review all the major issues or not. But after that we will definitely go back if needed."

Momen, however, said that his committee would do their best to clear everything in this regard. "It's a huge responsibility for us and I can assure everybody that all will get fair treatment," he said. "We have yet to set our strategy but what's encouraging for my committee is that we can take further help to do the job properly."

Bangladesh were granted Test status in 2000 and played their first Test against India at home later that year.