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Taking umbrage to allegations by the Board of Control for Cricket in India top brass that he had misappropriated funds to the tune of crores of rupees, former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya on Monday made a 'point-by-point' reply to each of the charges and accused his adversaries of indulging in 'witch-hunting'.
Holding a media conference hours after sending an 11-page reply to BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah's note, circulated at the Board's February 21 working committee meeting, on alleged irregularities in PILCOM (Pakistan India Lanka Committee -- the joint organisers of the 1996 World Cup), Dalmiya challenged the current BCCI regime to come out with documentary evidence that he had misappropriated "even a single paisa".
Dalmiya, the convenor secretary of PILCOM when the World Cup was organised, seemed high on emotion at various points of the media meet, and pooh-poohed the allegation that an amount of US $four million (about Rs 20 crore) due from TWI towards television rights of the 1996 World Cup had not been accounted for.
"The new convenor secretary of PILCOM (Niranjan Shah) has made a wild, defamatory charge through innuendo. I wish to state categorically that I am not aware of any amount being due from TWI ... It is expressly reiterated that not a single penny was misappropriated and the BCCI received the entire amount with due justifications," he said.
The veteran sports administrator said he is ready for a trial by media so that the truth could come out, and also did not rule out legal action against BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, who had led the attack on him.
Asked if he is contemplating moving court, Dalmiya said, "Judiciary is the ultimate authority in this country. I will wait for a response from those who have levelled the allegations against me. If I feel that things are going too far, I won't hesitate to take legal action."
He added that he had already handed over all the relevant papers to his lawyers.
Dalmiya said he has a 'lot to say' about the 'transparency' in the functioning of the present BCCI regime, including the television rights deal.
"I have a lot to say, but not today. I will come back to you on this. It is something very important. I know what kind of transparency they have.
"I have nursed the BCCI like my child. If something grossly wrong is being done, I'll come back to you. You have to just wait."
Turning to the goings-on in the February 21 meeting, Dalmiya said that a ten-page document was circulated and he was asked to answer without knowing the contents.
"I wanted seven days' time. But such was the aggressiveness of some of the members, that they wanted me to reply then and there," he said.
However, Dalmiya praised BCCI chief Sharad Pawar for not bowing to the pressure tactics of those members.
Releasing to the media his reply to Shah's note as also various other documents pertaining to the PILCOM, Dalmiya clarified that it had only one account maintained by Pakistan and India at Citibank, London.
"It has no other account anywhere, be it Kolkata or any other place."
Dalmiya said the PILCOM account could not be closed as the Income Tax authorities had slapped a series of cases.
"Till now, there are 64 cases pending with Kolkata IT authorities. But though the initial demand from the IT department was for Rs 88.71 crore, due to the persistent efforts of the BCCI, the demand has now being reduced to Rs 4.82 crore. But this also has to be fought out," he said.
Due to the pending IT cases, the final amount with the PILCOM could not be assessed, and so the residual money could not be divided between India and Pakistan, he claimed.
On the allegation that a total of Rs 6.05 lakh had been withdrawn between April and December last year from the Imprest account maintained by BCCI, Dalmiya said that the amount was withdrawn to meet monthly expenses towards salaries, local convenyance, travelling and other heads.
The former BCCI chief said that the vouchers and supporting documents were handed over to the BCCI's authorised representative P B Srinivasan on February 14.
On Shah's query, as to why the account was closed, Dalmiya said it was a BCCI procedure that whenever any office-bearer laid down office, he was required to close the imprest account and forward the proceeds to the BCCI treasurer.
Replying to the charge that the CAB had issued a cheque of Rs 39.41 lakh whereas the balance in the imprest account was only Rs 17.67 lakh, Dalmiya said as per the established practice in the board, when an affiliate unit spends money towards administrative expenses of a representative holding a position in the BCCI, it subsequently claims reimbursement.
"The above amount was spent for my TA/DA expenses for attending various meetings by the CAB for the nine months after I laid down office. Not a single penny was spent for my personal use," he added.