Digicel Deal Up for Independent Review

The WICB on Thursday announced that its sponsorship contract with Digicel will be reviewed by an independent committee to determine whether the WICB and all its organs acted appropriately in these matters and in particular to determine a number of allegations that have been persistently made. Following is the WICB's statement:

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has appointed a Sponsorship Negotiations Review Committee comprised of independent members of the Code of Conduct and Disciplinary and the Finance and Audit Committees of the Board to review all aspects of the negotiations which led to the conclusion of its sponsorship arrangements with Cable and Wireless (C&W) and its acceptance of a sponsorship agreement with Digicel.

The Committee is empowered to review and examine all correspondence, transactions, communications, minutes, contracts, records, arrangements and any other relevant information concerning the negotiations for the renewal of the sponsorship arrangement with C&W and the negotiations and conclusion of the sponsorship arrangement with Digicel.

The Committee has been established to determine whether the WICB and all its organs acted appropriately in these matters and in particular to determine a number of allegations that have been persistently made as to whether:

• the WICB treated Cable and Wireless fairly in the negotiations;

• an improper relationship exists between WICB and Digicel;

• the new sponsorship arrangement was in the best interests of the WICB and continued cricket development in the West Indies; and

• payments were improperly accepted by members of the WICB as an inducement -these members to include Board members, members of the marketing committee and executive staff.

The Chairman of the Committee is Mr. Justice Anthony Lucky with Mr. Avondale Thomas, FCCA and Mr. Gregory Georges, CA as the other members.

Justice Lucky is Chairman of the WICB’s Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Committee, which is totally independent of Board membership. This Committee monitors and implements the Board’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and also functions as the Disciplinary Committee for players, officials, referees and umpires. Justice Lucky is also on the panel of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Code of Conduct Commission.

A former Appeal Court judge in his native Trinidad and Tobago, Justice Lucky has been a judge on the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea since September 2003. He was called to the bar in 1961 and has practised in the private and public sector. Prior to being appointed judge in 1987, Justice Lucky served as a magistrate before entering the private sector where he became Corporate Secretary and in-house legal counsel to the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and other affiliated financial institutions. The holder of a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of the West Indies, Justice Lucky has been an associate tutor at the Sir Hugh Wooding Law School, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Thomas is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Chartered Accountants and has acted as an expert witness as well as a court-appointed investigator in financial issues. He is one of the two independent members of the WICB’s Finance and Audit and has been practising his profession for 24 years. He is the Managing Partner in the firm Allen, Thomas and Associate, Chartered Accountants in his native Antigua, which he established in 1999 after 19 years service to the international accounting firm Pannell Kerr Foster Chartered Accountants.

While with that firm, Mr. Thomas rose to senior auditor and performed audits on a wide variety of institutions including banks, insurance companies, sports associations and the hospitality industry. He currently serves as a Director of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission of Antigua and Barbuda and lectures to accountancy and business studies students of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Certified Accounting Technician.

Mr. Georges, the other independent member of the WICB Finance and Audit Committee, is currently the Financial Controller of the West Indies Oil Company Ltd (WIOC) based in Antigua.

A chartered accountant, Mr. Georges has more than 14 years of experience in providing a range of professional services to clients in both the public and private sector including the financial services, hospitality, manufacturing and aviation industries. Mr. Georges’ experience also included a stint in the Cayman Islands specialising in financial services.

The Antigua/ Dominica national formerly worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers as an Audit Manager in the firms’ Audit and Business Advisory Services Division where he also managed a number of special engagements.

The Committee is expected to deliver an interim report to the President of the WICB on or before July 8, 2005.