Sarwan Involved with Corrupt Individuals and Political Graft

The match fixing saga involving Ramnaresh Sarwan has revealed the player's association in a series of corrupt practices and political cronyism in Guyana. Over the past two days the Cricket Crusader has received hundreds of unsolicited emails detailing Sarwan's involvement and association with corrupt individuals and practices. Only allegations which have been independently confirmed will be published.

In the first instance, the embattled Mr. Bissoondyal who leads the Bissoondyal faction of the Demerara Cricket Board was the proprietor of the Texaco Gas Station at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara but has been forced to relinquish the franchise because he had embezzled in excess of $10M of fuel and petroleum products which were supplied to him at the station. He later used his political influence to have the matter kept quiet and is alleged to have bribed a key witness to disappear and not provide information against him. Last night it was revealed that Sarwan is now closely aligned to Bissoondyal and supports the latter's campaign to be President of the Guyana Cricket Board. In emails seen by the Cricket Crusader between Sarwan and Dinanath Ramnarine, the President of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA); it is clear the Ramnarine encouraged Sarwan to speak to Ministers of Government and other key officials to assist the Bissoondyal campaign so that WIPA would have control of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB). It is well known in cricketing circles in Guyana that WIPA is supporting Bissoondyal after extracting a promise from Bissoondyal to have the legal proceedings instituted by the current GCB discontinued. WIPA sees control of the Guyana Cricket Board as crucial to its plans to influence cricket and improve its finances.

Sarwan's close association with Bissoondyal is recent, as little as a year ago Sarwan's father had instructed solicitors to take legal proceedings against Bissoondyal and his brother who owed the elder Sarwan in excess of $10M and was refusing to pay. Bissoondyal and his brother are indebted to various friends and moneylenders for millions of dollars and is seeking control of the GCB so as to use his position to to improve his financial position and that of his brother. However, Sarwan now supports Bissoondyal because of the instructions he is acting upon from WIPA.

Sarwan's well known close friendship with junior Minister Irfa Ali has been revealed to be one of political corruption. Sarwan has benefited from the relationship by being awarded several acres of land in the upscale Providence  area to allegedly construct a mall. It has been discovered that Sarwan is but a front for the construction of the mall complex with Minister Ali and Minister of Labour Mansoor Nadir being substantial shareholders in project. However, it appears that the owner of the Windies Bar in Scarborough, Toronto; who has been named with Sarwan in the match-fixing allegations is the principal source of finance for the mall project.

Additionally, junior Minister Ali and Sarwan have prevailed upon Minister Nadir to have the Investigator (Mr. Foster) appointed to audit the Guyana Cricket Board corporate and financial documents re-write his report to fabricate the existence of irregularities. The report which has been completed for weeks reveals no irregularities with the financial or corporate documents of the GCB. However, Minister Nadir wants to have irregularities inserted so as to discredit the Chetram Singh Administration and enhance the Bissoondyal campaign. This is despite the existence of an injunction against the Bissoondyal led Demerara Cricket Board from acting in any manner as administrators of Demerara Cricket. The GCB General Elections which were due in January is still to be held because of the direct interference of Mansoor Nadir in withholding permission for the elections to be held. The GCB as a registered Friendly Society requires permission from the Minister to be held; a process which is usually a matter of formality.

Sarwan's match fixing allegations although being widely circulated in cricketing circles has not been denied by the player. Any denial would mean that he would have to hope that Team Manager Richie Richardson "develops amnesia" about the meeting he was required to attend with Sarwan at the invitation of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the International Cricket Council (ICC). However, WIPA appears set to blindly deny the match-fixing allegations against Sarwan because of his influence in Guyana and the key role he is playing in WIPA's activities in Guyana.

more will follow on emails received.

Players claim WIPA and WIPMACOL deceived them into sigining away their image rights

Senior members of the Guyana Cricket Team have expressed their disappointment and anger upon being made aware of the "true" contents of the contracts they have signed with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and with the West Indies Players Management Company (WIPMACOL). The Senior Team members who wish to remain anonymous said they learnt of the true contents shortly before their departure for St. Vincent and never realised that WIPA and WIPMACOL own their image rights solely. "I cyan imagine that Ramanrine would mek we sign a document taking away our image rights for himself" one player said. He said that he was never given a copy of anything he signed and he "signed during the lunch break while on tour with the Guyana Cricket Team last year". "Nobody explained anything to we; the captain said we signing up to join WIPA, I never hear 'bout WIPMACOL" another player said. His colleague said that "Ramnarine lie to us; he tek away our image rights and he ain't even put in the contract how much he gon pay us".

The players said they only learnt of the true contents of the contract when a "small gears sponsor" said he could not afford to pay Ramnarine the fees he was demanding for the use of their image rights. We were only getting gears which we need and he was demanding money payment from the sponsor to use our image rights. When we heard this we consulted a lawyer in Guyana who obtained copies of the contracts from the Court files and explained what was going on to us.

The Guyana Cricket Board throught their lawyer Sanjeev Datadin last year sued Dinanath Ramnarine (the Chief Executive of WIPA), WIPA and WIPMACOL and obtained injunctions against all of them just before the Guyana Cricket Team left for South Africa to play in the Airtel Champions League. The contracts were reportedly exhibited in those Court proceedings. 

The WIPA contracts state clearly that the players assign their image rights for a period of 15 years (with a renewal exercisable by WIPA option for a further 10 years) and will be paid "a fee to be agreed" for their image rights; the WIPMACOL contract is similar. Senior Counsel in Jamaica said "this would mean that even the player cannot enter into a contract to play cricket anywhere in the world as he is not the owner of his own image rights. WIPA and WIPMACOL own the players' rights solely, to the exclusion of the player himself". Another lawyer in Barbados who wished not to be named said "I am suprised that the West Indies Cricket Board has not intervened on the players' behalf". He said such a contract was opressive and the players were being taken advantage of because of thieir innocence and lack of formal education.

Another Guyanese Cricketer who wished to remain nameless said the "Sars tell us to sign everything; its only for membership to WIPA he said, I would not have signed otherwise.

The contracts also revealed that seasoned and experienced cricketers such as Darren Ganga, Dwyane Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Wavel Hinds were the principal officers of WIPMACOL and were the ones who signed the contracts on behalf of WIPMACOL. WIPMACOL is the business arm of WIPA and its shareholders are secret. The Minister of Sports in Guyana, Frank Anthony said that it appears that the senior players were influencing the younger players "to sign up" when they were the ones who were benefitting financially from the deal.

When asked the embattled Bissoondyal Singh of the Guyana Cricket Board said he saw "nothing wrong with WIPA owning the players' rights; they signed a contract and if they not sensible enough to read what they are signing then its their fault. Nobody force them to sign anything". But the Guyanese players disputed this saying that there was enormous pressure from Ramnarine and Sarwan (their captain) for them to sign the documents. They said it is apparent that anyone who does not obey Sarwan on such matters do not find their way into the final eleven regardless of how well they perform in trials. This they said was the case with Assad Fudadin and Richard Ramdeen; neither player could be reached for comment. However, the Chairman of Selectors Claude Rafael said he did not think that "such onerous and deceitful" contracts ought to be allowed. "This is Sarwan and dem teking advantage on dem youngeters" he said. He said he hoped it would not continue.

Guyana High Court issues injunction against entire Bissoondyal led faction of DCB

The High Court in Guyana granted an injunction against each and every member of the Bissoondyal led faction of the Demerara Cricket Board on the 8th February 2011 restraining them from holding themselves out or in any way performing the functions of the Demerara Cricket Board. Reports from Guyana indicate that Justice James Bovel-Drakes granted the injunction which will now continue until the 28th day of February 2011. The injunction was sought by the Secretary of the Raj Singh led faction of the Demerara Cricket Board. Legal experts in Guyana have said that as a result of the injunction the Raj Sing led faction of the Demerara Cricket Board in now the only entity lawfully entitled to administer cricket in Demerara. 

The ruling came despite reports in Guyana that Minister of Labour Mansoor Nadir had rushed through and registered as a Friendly Society the Bissoondyal faction of the Demerara Cricket Board. Senior Counsel in Guyana who did not wish to be named said that that would mean that the Bissoondyal faction is now outside the control of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) since the GCB is a registered Friendly Society with its affiliates all being unincorporated entities.Additionally, the newly registered Bissoondyal faction of the Demerara Cricket Board does not include in its membership the East bank Cricket Association and the West Demerara Cricket Association which would mean that if the Bissoondyal faction's registration is proper and allowed to represent Demerara Cricket then two divisions have no affiliation to the Guyana Cricket Board; plunging all the club players in the excluded clubs into non-selection for the Guyana Cricket Team. In cricket circles it is being said that the folly of Bissoondyal and his polotical gang have been exposed as they have now apparently "out-smarted" thenselves, to use popular Guyanese parlance.

Additionally, Bissoondyal boasted last night that his political backers will force the High Court judge to rule in his favour when the matter comes up for hearing. He boasted that "we will have to tell the judge what to do"; however, the same Senior Counsel in Guyana said he doubted this judge in particular could be subject to external influence in matters before him.

Dinanath Ramnarine, the Chief Executive of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) last night in an invited comment said that "its unfortunate that the backward judicial system of Guyana is the forum for all this litigation [there was an injunction granted against WIPA by the Chief Justice of Guyana]; the judges there are not capable of understanding the issues at hand. These matters should be heard in Trinidad". Ramnarine said he had spoken to Roachie [Bissoondyal is called "Roachie" by his friends] and he was confident that the proper Board would soon be administering Demerara cricket. Ramnarine said he is unlikely to visit Guyana in the near future unless a meeting with Bissoondyal or the politicians is necessary. "Boy, I am in contact with Roachie and Irfan [junior Minister of Housing Irfan Ali] all the time by telephone, I don't need to go there ... yes?" Ramnarine said with a smile. "Don't worry; we have things under control" he said.

The Court matter continues on 28th February 2011.