JCA clears the air

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

THE JAMAICA Cricket Association (JCA) has distanced itself from any fraudulent practice, this after a damning email, which was authored by financial manager, Kerith Melbrooke, forced the convening of an emergency meeting on Tuesday evening.

It was further revealed that Melbrooke, who was also present at the meeting along with members of the finance and administrative committees, has already stated his regret at the tone of his email and accepted that some of his statements were erroneous and that his comments were taken out of context.

Melbrooke, in his email, which was leaked to the media after being sent on November 12 to members of the JCA's financial and adminis-trative committees, called for a restructuring of certain manage-ment procedures and questioned the state of the association's accounts over the past three years, particularly the gross depletion of funds.

However, the JCA directors, led by senior board member Alva Anderson, highlighted that the association was not involved in any wrongdoing, and while there remained some lingering concerns, the board had unanimously agreed that there needed to be a new procedural approach.

"Mr Melbrooke in his explana-tion of the contents of his email, confirmed that certain statements there in were erroneous. Addi-tionally, Mr Melbrooke stressed that the contents of his email had been taken out of context and that the construct of the language he had used contributed significantly to this problem," said Anderson.

JCA CEO Robert Bryan further underlined that the matter was simply one of procedural ineffectiveness.

"The issues are not about missing funds because there is no issue about missing funds at all. There were some other issues that were raised, which were administrative and structural and those issues will have to be looked at," said Bryan.

"It's about a missing set of supporting documentation that is needed to substantiate the journal entries that were put through.

"Some journal entries were made that affected the opening and closing balance of the financial year that are being audited and that was done by an officer that is no longer here. Those documents cannot be located at this point," Bryan said.

As it relates to the depletion of funds, Bryan explained: "It has to be admitted that the financial situation of the JCA is tight, the trajectory that the association is on, there is no consistent recurring revenue coming from the product. It (JCA) is pursuing a path of funding cricket, funding the different competitions, preparing the national teams and so forth, and it is clear that what it is costing to do those things is outpacing what is coming in," Bryan said.