Suspended Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola was already under investigation by the elite commercial crimes unit, the Hawks, even before the recommendation by the Nicholson inquiry that criminal charges against him be investigated.
Published: Apr 15, 2012, 11:15 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 15, 2012, 11:15 PM (IST)
CSA is currently finalizing a disciplinary hearing for Majola, while several CSA senior staff members, including Acting President AK Khan, have resigned © Getty Images
Johannesburg: Apr 15, 2012
Suspended Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola was already under investigation by the elite commercial crimes unit, the Hawks, even before the recommendation by the Nicholson inquiry that criminal charges against him be investigated.
Colonel McIntosh Polela, spokesman for the Hawks, told Afrikaans daily Beeld that they had initiated investigations against the entire CSA, including Majola, long before Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula had established the inquiry late last year.
Mbalula acted following a huge public outcry following two years of wrangling at CSA over huge IPL-2 bonuses that Majola paid to himself and other senior CSA staff without informing the board.
IPL 2 was played in South Africa in 2009 due to elections at the time in India.
An internal inquiry by CSA largely cleared Majola, but an independent inquiry by KPMG fingered him as being in breach of his fiduciary duties.
A tearful Majola conceded at the Nicholson inquiry, citing his naiveté on corporate governance, although Judge Mervyn King testified that he had led the entire CSA board through a corporate governance workshop where Majola was present ahead of the IPL 2 series.
Polela told the daily that the investigation was started after former CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka, who was ousted in absentia twice after questioning the IPL bonuses, brought alleged fraud and corruption at CSA to the attention of the Hawks.
Nyoka announced at an executive committee of CSA in September last year that he had reported Majola to the Hawks.
Polela said the Hawks stood back after Mbalula announced the inquiry to allow the process to run its course.
Judge Chris Nicholson said in his report that there was sufficient evidence for criminal charges against Majola to be investigated.
CSA is currently finalizing a disciplinary hearing for Majola, while several CSA senior staff members, including Acting President AK Khan, have resigned.
CSA spokesman Michael Owen-Smith earlier confirmed that the Hawks had visited CSA?s offices, but had not seized anything as the cricket authority voluntarily handed over whatever documentation was required.
The new board of CSA informed Mbalula earlier this week that it accepted the report of the Nicholson inquiry, promising to take serious steps to clean up the game amidst concerns at grassroots level that not enough was being done there.
Mbalula had earlier warned CSA sternly that if there was no firm action on their part, government would intervene. (PTI)
