Anti-corruption team raids BCB's headquarters in Mirpur

The Bangladesh government's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) raided the BCB's (Bangladesh Cricket Board) headquarters in Mirpur on Tuesday, April 15, to collect documents and records in the wake of the allegations against the cricket board. The three-member probe team held a press briefing after their raid, alongside BCB chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury.

The allegations include corruption in ticket sales during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and irregularity in expenses for cricket-related activities around a political programme called "Mujib 100" (to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) in 2020, which got scrapped because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ACC team also took a note of the rule change in Dhaka's third division qualification competition. All three allegations fall Nazmul Hassan's tenure as BCB president. He resigned last year in August and was subsequently replaced by Faruque Ahmed.

“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. We had specific complaints today, particularly regarding the 2023 team selection for the Third Division Qualifying round," ACC official Mahmudul Hasan was quoted as saying at a media briefing.

He also spoke about the remarkable growth in ticket sales in the 11th season of the BPL. The revenue earned through it wasn't too far off from the amount which BCB earned from the third to the 10th season of the T20 tournament.

"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. 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 as saying by Bangladesh media," he added.

The Bangladesh Cricket Team got a long break after their forgettable 2025 Champions Trophy campaign where they were ousted in the first round after losing to eventual finalists India and New Zealand. They will return to action from Sunday, April 20 as they lock horns with Zimbabwe in a two-match Test series. Sylhet and Chattogram will host the matches.