BCCI unaware of Sourav Ganguly's business links
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The complaint against Sourav Ganguly is that he failed to disclose his relationship with the promoters of the new IPL team to BCCI © BCCL
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, have filed their respective replies to the office of the ombudsman with regards to the conflict of interest complaint against the latter's roles as member of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council (GC) while being a business partner with an IPL franchise owner.
BCCI has written to Justice AP Shah's office saying it is 'unaware' of Ganguly's business interests in Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Atletico de Kolkata. The reply is likely to come across as a surprise to many, especially because Ganguly's multiple roles as an IPL GC member, CAB president and as partner in Catch 22 Informatics LLP - which in turn has a 75 percent share in Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt Ltd, has been a much-discussed topic ever since Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka bought the new IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiants.
"BCCI confirms that Sourav Ganguly is the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal and is a member of the IPL Governing Council. BCCI is unaware of the business links that Ganguly has and this information could be obtained from him directly (in verbatim)," senior BCCI official Ratnakar Shetty wrote to the ombudsman in an email dated February 7.
Further, Shetty's email says that "it is true Rising Star successfully bid for the Pune venue. Bidders were asked to submit sealed envelopes containing technical and financial bids directly at the meeting of the IPL GC held on December 8, 2015 in New Delhi. By the time Ganguly reached the meeting, technical bids were opened and all five bidders were found to be eligible."
BCCI not being aware of Ganguly's interests in the ISL franchise is something the ombudsman may find hard to digest, especially because president Manohar, when asked at the draft about Ganguly's potential conflict of interest in December 2015, had categorically said "As far as I understand, Ganguly has no conflict of interest. If he would have been involved with any team (IPL), then it would have been a different case. But I think a lot of people are not understanding what conflict of interest means."
In this particular instance, Ganguly - a governing council member - happens to be a business partner in another sports league with the owner of an IPL franchise. More importantly, the franchise was bought by Ganguly's partner when the latter was already an active member of the GC. "It is clear that Sourav Ganguly failed to disclose his relationship with the promoters of the new IPL team to BCCI," activist Niraj Gunde - who had first filed the complaint - wrote again to the ombudsman on Monday.
Separately, Ganguly has also written to the ombudsman, clarifying his position. "It is true that I have a small stake in Atletico de Kolkata which is owned and managed by Kolkata Games & Sports Pvt Ltd. In other words, my stake in Kolkata Games & Sports Pvt Ltd is 5 percent," he said. "However, I have no stake or interest or connection with New Rising Promoters Pvt Ltd (which owns New Rising Supergiants). I do not perceive any potential conflict situation," writes Ganguly.
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