ICC to release India's cup money

The International Cricket Council on Friday agreed to release nearly Rs30 crore of India's guarantee money for the last World Cup.

"The ICC would put in place a process through which any member can access the withheld money upon an unconditional and irrevocable undertaking, perhaps a bank guarantee," ICC president Ehsan Mani told reporters in a teleconference.

"This will be conditional upon external auditors and legal advisors who will assess how much money can be accessed by the members," Mani said winding up the two-day executive board meeting of the ICC at Barbados, West Indies.

The ICC had withheld India's guarantee money of $6.5 million after their cricketers refused to accept the Players' Terms in the ICC contract and participated in the event on certain conditions.

Mani said it was not the ICC's policy to withhold money.

"Our policy is to generate money and give it back to the members for investing it for the development of the game. Any money generated belongs to the members."

Mani said the $47 million compensation claim of Global Cricket Corporation was still being looked into. "It is an ongoing process. We have a valuable partnership with the GCC. We must never lose sight of that. We are working with GCC on it."

He said the ICC did not see countries differently and it would meet its "commitment" vis-à-vis guarantee money.

"We have withheld $36 million in all. And in fact it is South Africa which had the maximum money withheld at $11 million. We are not for or against any country," Mani said.

"There has been a lot of speculation in the Indian media about deadline. I am not aware of any deadline. But no country will get any money right away. We are not dealing with India alone. We are dealing with many other parties."

Mani said the decision was taken unanimously in consultation with all the member countries and reiterated that any country wishing to take its money back would have to sign an undertaking.

"Before we are able to release the money, a legal and financial committee would assess if the claim is prudent and how much can that country claim."

Mani said such a situation could be avoided in future provided there was "good understanding" between the member countries.

He also said the world body was looking into new set of Players' Terms for the Champions Trophy next year and the 2007 World Cup.

"In fact we work on new Players' Terms for every event. It is a standard process."

In another important decision, the ICC decided to give recognition to those players' associations that were "recognised by home boards".

"In case of countries like Australia, England, South Africa and Zimbabwe we will give recognition to their associations. But in case of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka where the boards do not recognise the associations, we have decided not to give recognition. We will let the home boards decide on that."

The objective, Mani said, was to let the players have a "direct voice" in the organisation.

"We have one clear intention that the players' voices be heard," Mani said.

Mani also sought to put to an end speculation over the status of West Indies as a host for the 2007 World Cup. "There has been speculation in the Australian media following Bob Merriman's concerns over the ability of West Indies to host the mega event. But I can categorically assure it was just a speculation. West Indies will host the 2007 edition."