Chronicle Editor
THE International Cricket Council (ICC) has scheduled an emergency board meeting today after its suspended chief executive officer Manu Sawhney accused the world body of making unilateral, non-transparent and unfair decisions.
Incidentally, Sawhney was put on leave in March this year after a review conducted by PriceWaterhouseCooper Private Limited had alleged misconduct by him.
In a ‘strictly private and confidential’ letter addressed to the directors of the ICC, Sawhney also said the world body has set a dangerous precedent by ‘undermining the integrity of the ICC board’ and ‘adopted petty and vindictive approach towards him’.
Following the mail, Cricbuzz understands that the ICC scheduled the board meeting.
The ICC has been officially maintaining a position that it would not comment on the process until its completion.
In a two-page letter, the suspended Sawhney has raised points of PwC report which indicted him and questioned why it has been kept under wraps.
“The PwC report was commissioned by the board at great expense to the ICC. It is incumbent on the board to request (i) all the directors be immediately provided with a full copy of the report; and (ii) and an explanation for the four-month delay in providing a full copy of the report to the board,” Sawhney wrote in a letter seen by Cricbuzz.
“I ask the board to question why the ICC has adopted and continues to adopt, a petty and vindictive approach towards me…”
Sawhney (51), a former head of ESPN-Star, has also trained his guns on chairman Greg Barclay. “The chairman continues to assume sole conduct of my case on the basis that my employment contract states: ‘Responsibility of any disciplinary action against the executive will rest with the chairman and as set out in the ICC code of ethics or other such document.’ Clearly it is inappropriate for the chairman to be responsible for disciplinary action against the ICC CEO in circumstances where the chairman is the person who has made the allegation against the CEO.”
Stating that the ICC code of ethics contains a fair and impartial process of dealing with sensitive matters, in the form of Independent Ethics Tribunal, Sawhney wrote: “Irrespective of terms of my employment contract under paragraph 3.3 (A) of the ICC constitution, only the board has the authority to terminate my employment engagement.”
A virtual disciplinary hearing on the matter was held on June 17. On July 2, the ICC ethics officer informed Sawhney that he was probed under the provisions of the ICC code of ethics.
Urging the board members to address each issue as a whole in their next meeting, Sawhney wrote: “It is beyond my belief that my conduct as an official of the ICC is being questioned given the prejudicial way I have been treated. I request the board to reject the blatant attempt to use (a) second witch-hunt to cover up the ICC chairman’s conduct in this matter to date.”
Sawhney was suspended on March 9 on allegations of targeted acts of bullying the staff, physical aggression, fist banging, impacting the individuals’ health and wellbeing through his behaviour and implementing decisions without consulting the board.
These charges followed the findings of PwC, which was ‘tasked with undertaking an independent cultural assessment into the ICC’.
The ICC’s engagement with the agency has come for criticism, with some board members expressing apprehensions over the scope of the review and the need to hire an external agency. One director even had ‘changed his mind’ over suspending Sawhney, but the majority of members are believed to have approved the action against Sawhney.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a powerful member of the Board, has largely been silent on the matter so far.
The ICC has lined up a series of meetings as part of its annual conference. A chief executives committee meeting is slated for today and the board members will have a meeting on July 15.
The annual conference is on July 18. However, in relation to Sawhney’s mail, the board members are expected to come up with a decision at the emergency meeting today. — Cricbuzz
Online Reporter