Anti-Corruption Commission Raids Bangladesh Cricket Board Headquarters Over Corruption Allegations

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is headquartered at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.

The headquarters of the Bangladesh Cricket Board BCB ), housed inside the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur, Dhaka, have been raided by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) of the country following allegations of corruption against the national governing body of cricket in Bangladesh.

According to local media reports, a three-member team from Bangladesh's ACC raided the offices of the BCB in Dhaka at around 12 PM on Tuesday.

The operation was prompted by "allegations of irregular financial gain and other forms of corruption in the selection process of various cricket leagues under the Bangladesh Cricket Board."

According to ACC official Mahmudul Hasan, the BCB was facing allegations of "corruption in the selection process of various cricket leagues."

“We came here today from the ACC’s head office to conduct an enforcement operation. The main issue of the complaint was corruption in the selection process of various cricket leagues under the Bangladesh Cricket Board. This enforcement operation is being conducted based on allegations of illegal transactions and various other irregularities,” Hasan said at a media briefing.

“We had specific complaints today, particularly regarding the 2023 team selection for the Third Division Qualifying round. In previous years, the application fee was set at Tk 5 lakh. At that time, only two or three teams would apply, and one or two would be selected from those. This time, when the fee was reduced to Tk 1 lakh, 60 teams applied. We have collected the documents and will now verify and investigate these matters,” he added.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Third Division Qualifying League is being held this year. The league saw a significant drop in participation after the entry fee was raised from Tk 75,000 to Tk 5 lakh in the 2014-15 season.

This year, the fee was brought down to Tk 1 lakh, and several conditions were relaxed - resulting in the participation of 60 teams. The ACC is looking into whether the previous hike in entry fees and the drop in team participation were influenced by individuals or decisions within the BCB.

There are also allegations of manipulation of ticket sales during the Bangladesh Premier League.

“There was also a matter related to ticket sales. From the 3rd to the 10th season of the BPL, BCB had income from ticket sales. It was shown that the revenue from those eight seasons amounted to 15 crore taka. But in the 11th season, when BCB sold tickets themselves, the income was reported to be around 13 crore taka,” Mahmudul was quoted by Bangladesh media as saying.

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