After failing several deadlines, the Bangladesh Cricket Board is still unsure whether all the players received at least 25 per cent of their payment fully as two franchises did not deposit any money to its account.
Instead of paying the players through the BCB, Chittagong Kings and Sylhet Royals claimed that they have the made payment directly, which raised the possibility of an underhand dealing.
BCB had franchises deposit the money to its account as it is the guarantor on behalf of the franchises. The BCB had to share the financial burden of the franchise last season and from that experience it was decided that all payments will be made through the body.
But Kings and Royals did not bother to follow the guideline and instead declared to come up with the payment paper as part of their evidence.
The BPL governing council accepted it for now but said it will not take the responsibility of the players who receive money directly from the franchises.
‘We had asked Chittagong Kings and Sylhet Royals to provide us with the document of the players’ payment,’ Ismail Haider Mallick, member secretary of BPL governing council told reporters on Tuesday.
‘Later we will check it with the players and if everything is fine then we will have no problem accepting it. But at the same time we will not take the liability of the players who are taking money straight from the franchise,’ said Mallick.
Last year many players had agreed to an underhand dealing with teams but later demanded their auction price. It created anarchy as many players complained that they had not received the money the teams owed to them. The franchises on the other hand claimed that all players were paid as per their verbal agreement.
Since there was no formal agreement, players had little scope to take legal action. After one complaint followed another, the BCB had asked the franchises to take No Objection Certificates from players.
As some franchises took the same path again, it is feared the same anarchy may return, though the BCB has vowed to take a zero tolerance policy in this regard. The BCB itself owes huge portion of money to the franchises as excess bidding fees.
According to the new rule BCB will get 60 per cent of excess from the maximum bidding price of a player while 10 per cent will go to the event management firm Game On. The player will receive the remaining 30 per cent.
Though the franchises completed the initial payments of the players apart from Dhaka Gladiators and partly from Rangpur Riders, they are also yet to give the franchise fee amounting more than Tk 2 crore.
‘Nobody gave the franchise fee apart from Gladiators while Rangpur gave only 82 lakh,’ said Mallick.
-With New Age input
