FIR against Mohd Azharuddin, HCA members for misappropriation of funds

Hyderabad: Raising several allegations of misappropriation of funds and mismanagement of affairs, an FIR has been registered against former Indian captain cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin and other office bearers during their tenure in the Hyderabad Cricket Association. The FIR was made based on the complaint filed by Suneel Kante Bose, chief executive officer of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).

According to the complainant, during their tenure from February 1 2020 to February 29 2023, the office bearers have been involved in several irregularities. In his complaint, Bose requested a detailed probe to find out the extent of loss to HCA and any personal gain to the office bearers concerned.

HCA: responsibilities and powers

The Hyderabad Cricket Association is registered as a society under the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Public Societies Registration Act and controls and manages the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal.

It functions under the aegis of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The HCA is responsible for promoting the sport of cricket in the Telangana State and has the exclusive authority to select the Hyderabad cricket team.

The association receives funds and income in the form of:

- Grants received from the BCCI.

- Franchisee fee from conducting matches like the Indian Premier League (IPL); sale of tickets and corporate box tickets of IPL matches; One Day International (ODI) matches, World Cup, test cricket matches etc.

- Miscellaneous income like interest on fixed deposits, tower lease, annual subscription from clubs etc.

- TV/media coverage rights etc.

- Land (23-27 guntha) given on lease at a nominal rent of Rs 1,00,000 by Andhra Pradesh.

What did the investigation reveal?

The complaint said that there were several instances of misappropriation of funds and mismanagement of affairs by the office bearers of the HCA during its operations in 2011. These allegations were investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and three chargesheets were filed against the former office bearers based on the investigation findings.

The interim report prima facie revealed financial irregularities and mismanagement which resulted in adverse financial impact in crores of rupees. On February 14, 2023, the Supreme Court of India appointed Justice L Nageswara Rao, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India as the Single Member Committee to ensure that fair and proper elections are conducted to the Apex Council of the HCA and to administer its affairs.

In light of the earlier reports submitted by various parties before the High Court of Telangana, alleging misappropriation of funds, the CEO of the association engaged a CA firm experienced in Forensic Audit.

The scope and objective of the forensic audit is to uncover and investigate possible diversion/ misappropriation of funds or any other malfeasance on the HCA by various parties/contractors/ suppliers/service providers or any other persons against HCA during the past three years prior to March 2, 2023.

What did the forensic audit reveal?

The CA firm submitted a forensic audit (interim report) wherein the auditors have identified some instances of financial loss, involving diversion of funds, misappropriation of assets/monies belonging to HCA and the modus operandi adopted by the parties.

Based on the forensic audit, it is evident that certain transactions entered into on behalf of the HCA with third-party vendors are found to be not genuine and that the transactions have been carried out in a manner detrimental to the interest of the association.

Mishandling of tender

Mohammad Azharuddin, the then president of the association in the 9th Apex Council meeting held on March 3 2021 had sought to take up discussions regarding fire-fighting equipment. However, subsequently, without assigning any reasons, the tender was not allotted to any of the bidders.

Thereafter, HCA floated a second tender for the same work.

Although Firewin Safety Engineers Pvt. Ltd. was awarded the tender, some of the fire safety extinguishers installed at the stadium are labelled as ‘Vintex’ which was the unsuccessful bidder No 4. This established a link between these two vendors.

Also, according to the FIR, Both the owners of Indian Fire Safety Services (another bidder in the list) and Firewin Safety Engineers are shareholders and directors of Firewin Safety Engineers Pvt. Ltd. This established relationship between these two vendors beyond any doubt.

As per the terms and conditions of the work order, the work should have been executed within six months of the work order along with the issuance of a completion certificate. However, it is observed that although six months have elapsed, there was no documentary evidence to support the progress of the work. The completion certificate was also not issued. This was looked at as a clear violation of the ‘terms & conditions’ mentioned in the work order.

“Tender-2 was awarded to Firewin Safety Engineers with a malicious intention to cause loss to HCA and it is apparent that the bidder would have connived with the management of HCA,” the complainant said.

Bose stated that Mohd Azharuddin attended the meeting virtually and rushed the issue of the work order. However, even after six months of issuing of work order work was not completed and non-compliance with statutory regulations persists.

Also, the said allotment/awarding of the contract is done without the knowledge and consent of the supervisory committee comprising Justice NA Kakru (retired Chief Justice of High Court of Andhra Pradesh), Anjani Kumar (IPS, director general, ACB, Telangana State), SL Venkatapathy Raju and Vanka Pratap, director of Hyderabad Cricket Academy of Excellence.

The supervisory committee was constituted by the Supreme Court of India, to supervise the management of the affairs of the Hyderabad Cricket Association.

“All actions right from the issuance of tender for procurement, to the allocation of work order and authorising release of payments to third party vendors without fulfilment of tender conditions, were made under the directions of the president who was running the administration under the supervision of the supervisory committee without following due procedure,” the complainant said.

Azharuddin responds to the complaint

On this, Azharuddin posted a tweet on X saying that these are all false and motivated allegations. "I am in no way connected with the allegations. I will reply to the motivated allegations against me at an appropriate time.

This is just a stunt pulled by my rivals to ruin my reputation," he wrote.