Dalmiya demands proof of charges

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president, has strongly denied the charges of financial irregularities made against him by the current BCCI regime. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata today, Dalmiya said he had replied to each of the charges to to the BCCI's marketing committee.

The BCCI had last week asked Dalmiya to clarify certain financial transactions made during the 1996 World Cup by the PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Sri Lanka), the organising body which Dalmiya was the convenor secretary. The charges included the transfer of certain amounts to the Cricket Association of Bengal.

"Nobody has lost a single paisa -- be it BCCI or Cricket Association of Bengal", Dalmiya today said.

"The new convenor secretary of PILCOM (Niranjan Shah) has made a wild, defamatory charge through innuendo. I wish to state categorically that I am not aware of any amount being due from TWI ... It is expressly reiterated that not a single penny was misappropriated and the BCCI received the entire amount with due justifications."

Asked if he was contemplating any legal action, he said, "I have already given the papers to my lawyers, once I find things are going too much beyond control, I will not hesitate in moving the judiciary."

He added that he had some revelations to make about the current regime. "I have a lot to tell. I will come to you very soon. Only I know what kind of transparency they have. I have nursed the BCCI like my child. If something grossly wrong is being done, I'll come back to you. You have to just wait."

Turning to the goings-on in the February 21 meeting, Dalmiya said that a ten-page document was circulated and he was asked to answer without knowing the contents. "I wanted seven days' time. But such was the aggressiveness of some of the members, that they wanted me to reply then and there," he continued.

However, Dalmiya praised Sharad Pawar, the board chief, for not bowing to the pressure tactics of those members. Releasing to the media his reply to Shah's note as also various other documents pertaining to the PILCOM, Dalmiya clarified that it had only one account maintained by Pakistan and India at Citibank, London. "It has no other account anywhere, be it Kolkata or any other place."