King to testify in cricket probe

 

Corporate governance and ethics specialist Mervyn King is likely to be the last witness to give evidence to the Nicholson inquiry into Cricket SA's financial affairs when the commission reconvenes next week.

The commission's head, Judge Chris Nicholson, said that the hearing will continue next week when King returns from overseas .
The commission adjourned on Tuesday with the last oral submission coming from former Cricket SA president Norman Arendse.
Arendse has called for the suspension of Cricket SA CEO Gerald Majola and for the former chief operating officer, Don McIntosh, to be charged.
He said Majola wielded too much power in the organisation and that the Cricket SA board had failed to call him to order.
Arendse said the board had failed dismally in respect of corporate governance.
He said that sponsors who had stopped supporting cricket following the revelation of the bonus scandal would return once something was done.
The inquiry, which began its hearings at the end of November, has heard testimony that placed Majola in an untenable position.
The commissioners led by Nicholson are the chief director of internal audits at the Treasury, Zoliswa Zwakala, and accountant-general Freeman Nomvalo.
The commission is expected to have completed its inquiries before the end of next month.
Former United Cricket Board (the forerunner of Cricket SA) managing director Ali Bacher said that an amount of R5-million paid to him after the 2003 cricket World Cup had been approved by the board and was intended to bolster his pension fund, which he described as "inadequate".
Majola had accused Bacher of setting a precedent for bonuses.
Bacher was backed by former UCB board member Tim Khumalo, who said Majola had been a member of the board that approved Bacher's bonus.
Former Cricket SA remunerations committee chairman Paul Harris confirmed to the inquiry that Majola's bonuses and travel allowances were "ridiculous and never approved by the remunerations committee".
He, and a number of subsequent witnesses, confirmed that similar bonuses had never been authorised by the committee.
The commission, which Arendse said he hoped would not turn out to be "a toothless bulldog", will present its findings to Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula.
Mbalula, together with the Cricket SA board, will then decide on the future of Majola.