Ethics officer gives Colin Graves clean-chit after Manohar’s loan violation complaint

Recently, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) had a monetary exchange between them, which caught the eye of Shashank Manohar, who then brought it to ICC Ethics Officer’s notice. He suspected the money that was sent by ECB to CWI was to get West Indies in their tent ahead of the ICC Chairman election, a position that Graves is favourite to win. However, the officer has dismissed the allegations after a thorough examination.

"In consideration of all the facts that are in my possession, and in consideration of all the paragraphs extracted from the Code as laid out in paragraph 2, I am convinced there has been no intentional violation of the Code by any party or Code signatory. In making my assessment, I consider the matter of the loan made by the ECB to CWI at around the time of an imminent ICC election for its new Chairperson to have been thoroughly and objectively evaluated by me, and that I have received sufficient information to complete the evaluation,” the officer said, reported IANS.

"I attest that it is clear beyond any doubt, that both parties to the loan, including the Code signatories, in their understandable haste to achieve a short-term business solution, the details of which are reasonable and understandable, have only acted in accordance with their pressing and necessary business and cricket reasons. I attest that I do not believe the loan was made or received in the context of, or in relation with the matter of the forthcoming election for a new ICC Chairperson.”

When a BCCI official was contacted, he was sure that it was a tactic played by Manohar to remove Graves from the ICC election race and cited the example of what he did to the BCCI in 2017 when the board needed a person at the helm of the affairs.

"His idea of fairness is to attempt the removal of a rival in this manner. In BCCI, he looked for the easy route to ICC when the BCCI needed a leader the most. To me, the complaint against Colin signalled that Colin was the main contender. What the ECB was being accused of in the complaint was exactly what was done in 2017 in Zimbabwe's case, but the matter wasn't taken to the Ethics Officer back then. That happened on the eve of a crucial board meeting. In the ECB's case, it was transparent and has now been dealt with by the Ethics Officer. It's a matter of huge embarrassment for Manohar," the official told IANS.