WICB Misses More Player Payments

Since June last year, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has withheld -- but never deposited -- the percentage of West Indies cricketers' match fees that is supposed to go towards the Provident Fund.

According to a report in the Trinidad Express, it was only after enquiries by the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) that the WICB issued "payment instructions" its bank for the transfer of Provident Fund contributions for the players.

A percentage of every West Indian player's match fees is supposed to be invested by the WICB in the Fund, which was established to provide for the cricketers in their retirement. The newspaper said that WIPA was forced to write to the WICB to ask about the lack of the contributions to the Fund since June. The WICB's response was that payments "were delayed due to timing issues with regard to our collections".

"The fact is that deductions were made from the players' earnings since June 2004 and not remitted to the Fund," according to the players' association letter, which said it was "appalled at this cavalier treatment of the issue."

"At no time were the players or WIPA informed that there were 'timing issues', whatever that means," WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine said in his letter to the board.

"It is obvious to us that the deductions were made and the money not used for the purpose for which it was intended, namely to be deposited on time in the Fund so that the players could have the benefit of the earnings of the Fund. It is remarkable that only when WIPA discovers this misuse of the players' money and complains, that you send 'payment instructions for the transfer of Provident Fund Contributions' as your letter indicates," he added.

Ramnarine added in the letter that "in the circumstances, we have no option but to conclude that the Board has misused the players' money, and to demand that the sums remitted now to the Fund include interest payments which would have been earned had the money been deposited on time."

The WIPA president made it clear than the Provident Fund was intended to provide for the players in their retirement and warned that the board "cannot simply deduct contributions from the players, keep the money and apply it however it chooses, and then send it to the fund only when there is a complaint."

"The off-hand manner in which you continue to handle this most important issue is another revealing indication of the governance issues which afflict the operations of the WICB."

"As the representative of the players, we will not countenance this flippant disregard of the players' interests," Ramnarine added.

It's not the first time that disbursements to players have been delayed considerably. as previously reported by CaribbeanCricket.com, the WICB was tardy in paying match fees for the third and fourth Tests during the last tour of England, match fees for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, sponsorship shares from Sandals Resorts and LNM Group, and funds withheld from player salaries to cover fines and disciplinary infractions.

It's also not the first time that the WICB has misused monies in the Provident Fund. In July 2000, two WICB staffers allegedly falsified board minutes to switch monies from the Guaranteed Accumulation Fund (GAF), a secure fund providing an annual return of 4-5 per cent to the riskier Blue Chip Fund (BCF).

The switch was meant to achieve a higher rate of returns but the stock market subsequently crashed and caused the price per unit in the BCF to decline significantly. West Indies players who had since retired and who were on the verge of retirement suffered major losses.

The WICB has since created a notional Fund effective July 2000 (in relation to each member) which would operate as if no switch of funds had taken place. The plan calls for the monitoring of the balance between the notional fund and the BCF until the value of the notional fund is equal to or just exceeds the value in the member's BCF at which point the notional fund will be terminated.

Prior to the crossover point, any retirement from the Provident Fund will be funded from the notional fund to ensure that no member suffers any loss.

However, with the latest disclosure that the WICB has not been making deposits into the Fund, it appears that the board's good faith gesture has been thrown out the window.