The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced on Sunday that the withheld sum of the World Cup guarantee money, 6.5 million dollars, would be released by the ICC within the next six weeks.
"It was decided at the Executive Board meeting of ICC Development (International) Limited (the commercial arm of ICC) that the money is to be released and the time frame fixed for that is four to six weeks," BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, who represented the Board at the meeting in Barbados last week, told reporters at Kokata.
He said that there had been contradictory reports after the meeting at Barbados which stated that the ICC's decision was conditional and BCCI had to furnish a bank guarantee for the release of the money.
"I had checked up with the ICC president Ehsan Mani and he clearly stated that he had been grossly misquoted by the media on the bank guarantee issue", he said.
Dalmiya said the ICC had not sought any bank guarantee for release of the withheld share of India and other countries for their participation in the World Cup, but set two conditions.
Each of the 10 ICC Full Member Boards would have to furnish a personal indemnity that if the Global Cricket Corporation, business partner of IDI, succeeds in any of its claim with IDI, each full member would equally share the amount of IDI's liability to GCC.
Besides, if a GCC claim has to be settled, a panel of experts would determine the liability of the individual Board and its decision would be final.
IDI had withheld India's share of guarantee money from the World Cup in South Africa in March this year because of the claims raised by their sponsors Global Cricket Corporation and World Sport Nimbus amounting to USD 47 million USD (approx Rs 200 crores).
But in a major victory for the Indian Board, IDI Board had agreed to return the money after lengthy deliberations following strong representation by BCCI in which it was argued that share of countries would not be withheld simply because there were some claims without proof by GCC and WSN, he said.
BCCI, however, termed the withholding of the guarantee money as "absolutely unreasonable and uncalled for" and described the claims of GCC and WSN as "baseless and fictitious".
Objecting to the ICC move, the BCCI had also set a November one deadline for the IDI to release the withheld amount failing which it threatened to move the Court of Arbitration at Lausanne in Switzerland.
Asked what steps were being taken for preventing any recurrence of such complications regarding the contract issues, Dalmiya said the IDI executive board had requested the BCCI to work it out with the IDI.
"A decision has been taken at the meeting that IDI will work closely with BCCI for settling the issue. We will extend full cooperation to them," he said
