ECB head under growing pressure over Stanford

Published: February 19, 2009

LONDON (AFP) - ECB chairman Giles Clarke faced mounting criticism Wednesday over the body's links with controversial tycoon Allen Stanford, with whom it ceased negotiations Tuesday amid allegations of massive fraud.
Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson told the BBC he thought England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Clarke should accept responsibility for the body's close links with Stanford, who agreed a deal with the ECB last summer for five one-off annual matches - each with an overall prize fund of 20 million dollars.
"We need to understand who knew what and who did what and that's an internal matter which we need to get to the bottom of," Davidson told BBC Radio amid growing calls that Clarke should consider his position - though the latter has refused to contemplate resigning.
"My understanding is that Giles was very much at the forefront of this deal,"
Davidson said, adding the "wholesome image" of the England team was at stake and suggested that Stanford's involvement rendered the sport "tacky."
The ECB said they and West Indies cricket chiefs had suspended talks with Stanford on Tuesday after the Texas businessman was accused of a fraud worth more than nine billion dollars by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC charged Stanford and three of his companies with "orchestrating a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme centering on an eight billion CD (certificate of deposit) program."
The SEC also made allegations regarding the use of "materially false data" relating to 1.2 billion dollars in mutual fund sales by one of Stanford's companies.

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