Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam is under intense pressure from the country’s Sports Ministry after a group of cricket organisers accused the board of interfering in its last election which secured Aminul a four-year term as president.
In a recent interview with a private TV station, Jamuna TV, Aminul refuted his involvement in any malpractice in the election.
He, however, acknowledged that he just wrote to the district sports bodies to include the names of the councillors in the voter list from the ad-hoc committees as the constitution of the board dictates.
Aminul became the BCB president for the first time during the interim government when the then-president, Faruque Ahmed, was ousted, and he was appointed by the National Sports Council as an independent director on the board. After that, the other directors elected him as the president.
After becoming the president, Aminul declared he came to play a T20 innings, referring to his wish to stay as the president for a short time. But before the election, he opted to contest, aiming to cement the changes his board initiated during his first tenure.
To investigate the allegations in the election, the sports ministry under the current BNP government decided to form a probe committee, which submitted its report to the ministry on Monday.
“We have the report,” Aminul Haque, the sports minister, confirmed. “We will now discuss with the ICC and take further actions.”
During the investigation, Aminul, the BCB president, did not meet with the investigators. He missed it due to a scheduling conflict, he claimed. But he said he responded to the committee with a written response.
Asif Mahmud, who was the sports advisor under the interim government, alleged that some members of the current board have resigned because they were enticed by the sports minister Aminul. But he denied the allegation.
Like the board president Aminul, Asif also did not face the probe committee. He alleged that “A prominent cricketer is actively lobbying to prevent the ICC from intervening in the illegal process to dissolve the board.”
Asif alluded to the former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal, who was one of the leaders, who raised concerns about the malpractice in the election. Before raising it, he was also trying to contest in the election against Aminul, but at the last moment, he withdrew his name.
Now, as the future of the current board of the BCB is uncertain, the president was asked what he will do if all the directors of his current board resigned— he vowed, he will be the last person to go.
MSH
