GCA cheating case
PANAJI
Complainant in the Goa Cricket Association of misappropriation of Rs 1 crore of funds, Nilesh Prabhudessai on Friday demanded the government to prioritise the appointment of an administrator for the GCA.
Preliminary investigation into the complaint filed by former Ranji player and GCA member Prabhudessai had revealed that these office bearers, who were signatory authorities for GCA in the financial year 2006-07, hatched a criminal conspiracy from May 9, 2006 onwards and deposited a cheque of Rs 1 crore in a bank account opened fraudulently. The amount was later used to misappropriate the funds of TV subsidy sent by Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to GCA thereby cheating the cricketing body of the amount of Rs 1 crore.
Phadke, Dessai and Mulla deposed before the EOC on Friday and were questioned about their involvement in the matter. Their anticipatory bail application will be heard by the Panaji Sessions court on December 27. Narvekar is presently abroad on a trip and is likely to return after December 31, it was learnt.
Prabhudessai informed that the members of the Association met the chief minister, deputy CM and the sports minister with the request, all of whom initially showed a great degree of interest in the cause.
Speaking to the media at Panaji, the former Ranji player Prabhudessai stated, “The file for appointment of an administrator for GCA is pending before the government since the Ex-Ranji Players’ Association made a representation to that effect. But citing political compulsions, the government has stalled the appointment. It looks like the government is not serious about this matter.” “However, when the matter came up before the Goa Legislative Assembly on August 12, earlier this year, MLAs Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar, Vijai Sardessai and Vishnu Wagh raised objections to the appointment,” Prabhudessai said adding that the government can still go ahead with the plan, if it so wishes, on the backdrop of Vijai forming his own party and MGP locking horns with the BJP.
Prabhudessai also sought to point out that the apex court, in response to a petition filed against the Board of Control of Cricket in India by the Cricket Association of Bihar in 2014, has clearly laid down that the State government can intervene to take over such a cricketing body as its functions are clearly public.
Expressing apprehensions over the continued presence of Desai, Phadke and Mulla at GCA office, he said, “If the government doesn’t appoint an administrator for GCA soon, GCA will have no funds left and GCA will be ‘cash-less’ by December 31 in the literal sense.”
Meanwhile, Prabhudessai said that the Rs 1 crore scam precedes the previous case of Rs 2.87 crore. "We are scrunitising all accounts now and more such incidents involving funds worth Rs 8 to 10 crore are likely to come out into the open in the near future," he hinted.
In the case of Rs 1 crore, during the financial year 2006-07, GCA received nine cheques of a total of Rs 11.52 crore from the BCCI.
