South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula will this week name a retired judge to probe a bonus scandal that has tainted the national cricket body for more than a year.
Published: Oct 17, 2011, 05:59 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 17, 2011, 05:59 PM (IST)
South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula said he would press ahead with the probe after receiving telephone threats with an unknown caller © Getty Images
Johannesburg: Oct 17, 2011
South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula will this week name a retired judge to probe a bonus scandal that has tainted the national cricket body for more than a year.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) officials at the weekend dumped president Mtutuzeli Nyoka, who has repeatedly called for an independent inquiry into secretly awarded bonuses after the country hosted the 2009 Indian Premier League.
A forensic report said CSA employees pocketed 4.7 million rand (594,000 dollars) with 1.8 million (228,000 dollars) going to CEO Gerald Majola, who also used an association account to fund travel by his wife and children.
Mbalula said he would press ahead with the probe after receiving telephone threats with an unknown caller telling him to “get out of this cricket thing, to leave it alone because it would be very dangerous for me.
“But I will not be threatened because we must be decisive in acting against corruption, otherwise what will we say to the next federation that gobbles money? If I’m going to turn a blind eye, then we will become a banana republic.”
The scandal has hit South African cricket hard financially with sponsors shunning a Twenty20 series against Australia that ended at the weekend and the domestic one-day and Twenty20 competitions.(AFP)
