25 March 2024 last updated at 19:12 GMT
 
FICA urges ICC ethics committee to investigate
Tuesday 07 May 2013

 

The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations today formally call on the International Cricket Council to instigate an Ethics Committee enquiry into the alleged fixing of the player representative vote for the ICC Cricket Committee by Board Members.

FICA International Legal Advisor, Ian Smith, said: “In light of media reports that five ICC full member boards applied direct pressure on their captains to amend their votes in the recent elections, FICA’s official stance is that these allegations must warrant careful and independent scrutiny; especially because we understand ICC specifically instructed the Boards not to interfere in the voting process.”

Smith continued, “The actions, allegedly instigated by BCCI, are a timely and stark reminder of the very serious shortcomings in governance at ICC highlighted more than a year ago by the Woolf report and about which ICC has done nothing in the intervening period. It is further apparent from statements made by unnamed ICC Board sources overnight that they are trying to position the involved Boards’ actions as “lobbying”, but there should be a very clear distinction made between a candidate lobbying for a vote and an employer threatening an employee to change their vote.”

President of FICA, Jimmy Adams, said: “The ICC’s actions in this matter cast serious doubt, if not on their ability, certainly on their willingness to adhere to proper governance. Governance apparently being an area they themselves have deemed in need of improvement in recent time. This is a sad indictment on an organization carrying a mandate to provide an effective framework for the management of the global game and therefore to allow the agreed systems within this framework to function free from interference and prejudice. Executives have stood aside while apparently watching their own process corrupted by their own Board members. In the meantime, ICC constantly tells the world it has a “zero tolerance” approach to corruption in cricket and constantly tries to impress the “Spirit of Cricket” on participants. How can the players of the world look to ICC for leadership in these circumstances and how does the spirit of cricket apply to the organisation itself? Board members didn’t like how their captains intended to vote, so they apparently ordered them to change that vote. This type of behaviour from the game’s ruling body makes a mockery of their motives behind the procurement of the Woolf report.”

Adams went on to say: “FICA want ICC to use its own processes to deal with this. It has a Code of Ethics with which Directors and Members need to comply – the reported actions of some of the Member Boards and ICC directors, at the very least warrant investigation under this Code. We call on ICC to hold itself up to the high standards of moral conduct it constantly tells the players and officials it expects from them. Ultimately, these actions are symptoms of poor governance at the top level and a blatant disregard for what most would regard as the necessary ethical standards required to run a prominent international sport – cricket deserves a lot better.”

 

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