DOMINICA IMPLICATED IN CARIBBEAN CRICKET CORRUPTION SCANDAL

The FIFA football bribery-and-kickback scandal, which roiled Caribbean professional sports, and continues to haunt the Cayman Islands and Trinidad, is being replaced by yet another regional black mark. Media in the East Caribbean are buzzing about the exposure of corruption in Caribbean cricket, and in which Dominica, and one of its attorneys linked to the present government, is deeply involved.

Michael Holding, one of the world's most prominent bowlers, and a well-known commentator, has exposed three specific instances of corruption, involving the West Indies Cricket Board a/k/a Cricket West Indies a/k/a CWI. One case in particular has drawn the attention of the people of Dominica, as allegations of corruption have flown around the failure of the Dominica Cricket Association to receive a $134,200 donation that was paid into the Cricket Board, for further transmission to Dominica, but has now mysteriously disappeared. An audit has confirmed that the Dominica sports entity never received the donation.

The matter is made even more controversial by the complete lack of any documentation regarding the "Donation," which was reportedly made from an anonymous offshore account. Said to be directly involved is Dominica's controversial CBI head, Emmanuel Nanthan. Furthermore, the Cricket Board is reportedly represented by local Dominica lawyer, Tony Astaphan, who is said to be reviled "like a bad penny which keeps coming back, " due to his association with government officials alleged to be corrupt. What was their role in this scandal ?

Was the six-figure payment was an exercise in covert money laundering, to benefit someone in Dominica ? The matter should be the subject of a criminal investigation, but given the reluctance of Caribbean officials to unmask sports corruption in the region, it is doubtful that we will ever learn who contributed the funds, and who was to ultimately receive them. FIFA officials in the Caribbean have been charged with major corruption, but to date are neither sentenced nor serving richly deserved prison terms in the US. Thus, there is little chance that any Cricket corrupter will ever see the inside of an American prison.