Sourav Ganguly given clean chit by BCCI ombudsman over conflict of interest issue

New Delhi: BCCI-appointed Ombudsman Justice (Retired) AP Shah on Wednesday gave a clean chit to former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly regarding all allegations of conflict of interest.

According to a report in The Times of India, Shah considered Gunde's application and also the submissions from Ganguly's end as well as the BCCI, and found that none of the conflict of interest rules could be applied to the case.

“The Ombudsman is of the view that no case of conflict of interest has been established or made out against Ganguly , and therefore, the matter is accordingly disposed of,“ Justice Shah says in his order dated February 17, 2016.

Gunde had earlier written an application to the ombudsman mentioning that he was not only the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), but also a member of the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council.

“The Office of the Ombudsman has received an application from Niraj Gunde, making certain allegations regarding conflict of interest against Sourav Ganguly , President of the Cricket Association of Bengal and a member of the IPL Governing Council. Please provide your response to the same within two weeks,“ the Ombudsman's mail stated.

Earlier, the Bengal Tiger refuted allegations of conflict of interest filed against him by Gunde with the ombudsman.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Ganguly denied any involvement with New Rising Promoters Pvt. Ltd. that owns Rising Pune Supergiants. He also claimed to be unaware of the company's share-holding patterns.

However, Dada accepted to owning a 5% in the Indian Super League franchise Atletico de Kolkata that is owned by the promoters of the new Pune IPL franchise.

“As such the complaint has left me nonplussed. I am a partner with 6.67% share in ‘Catch 22 Informatics LLP’ a limited liability partnership which has about 75% share in Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt. Ltd. In other words my stake in Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt. Ltd is about 5%. However, I have no interest or stake in or connection with New Rising Promoters Pvt. Ltd. which bid at the auction held on December 8, 2016,” wrote Ganguly in an email to Shah.