Daraine Luton, Freelance Writer
Griffth ... one of three WI board members who knew the identity of the sponsors - FILE
JUSTICE ANTHONY Lucky, a Trinidadian judge who headed a committee to find out if there was any impropriety in the selection of Digicel as sponsors of West Indies cricket, has indicated that he has identified some flaws in the contract Digicel signed with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which could make it "null and void".
Justice Lucky made the comments in the Sponsorship Review Committee's report submitted to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
The document, which appeared on the website 'CaribbeanCricket.com', was handed over to new WICB president Ken Gordon over a week ago.
The report on the website said there was no intention to make the review public but a leak of the document has made it clear how Justice Lucky felt about the contract.
"The WICB/Digicel sponsorship agreement was never ratified and in these circumstances I am of the view that the contract can be declared null and void," Justice Lucky wrote. "I have to add that I have sought and obtained legal opinion to this effect."
Lucky wrote that the signing of the WICB/Digicel Sponsorship Agreement "are not in conformity with company law and practice".
Company law practice requires that agreements and contracts which bind a company should be placed on the agenda for discussion at board meetings, and after the agreement or contract has been examined and considered by the board, the board would approve same and, by resolution, agree that the contract or agreement should be signed by persons specified in the resolution.
The report stated that only the then president (Teddy Griffith), the CEO (Roger Brathwaite) and, at a later stage, the chairman of the marketing committee, knew the identity of the proposed sponsor, Digicel.
Additionally, it said that Cable and Wireless could not have found out which company the WICB was negotiating with because another firm was used to mask the identity of Digicel.
Justice Lucky found this to be a breach of one of the clauses of the contract with Cable and Wireless, which requires openness in negotiations.
In the final analysis, Justice Lucky concluded that "...the sponsorship agreement with Digicel, together with the commission agreements referred to above, cannot be in the best interest of West Indian cricket, because, firstly, the negotiations were secret; secondly, only a few members knew and the board members were excluded.
"In fact, board members never, according to the records we have seen, asked any questions relating to the agreement itself and, further, never questioned why matters were not reverted to the board.
"The negotiations that resulted in the finalisation of the agreement were conducted in secret under a guise of confidentiality," he added.
The appointment of the Justice Lucky-led committee came after the WICB and the West Indies Players' Association failed to agree on issues relating to the individual sponsorship deals of players.
This led to most of the region's stars, including master batsman Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Wavel Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan refusing to travel to Sri Lanka for the just concluded two-Test tour.
Justice Lucky said owing to the nature of the agreement between the WICB and their sponsors, the WIPA could not negotiate with the WICB because they were unable to find out the exact terms of the contract.
