Sawhney will be leaving the post of the Chief Executive Officer at the International Cricket Council, the governing body confirmed via an announcement on Thursday.
The decision to ask for Sawhney’s ouster from the board was taken in an emergency meeting chaired by Greg Barclay. Sawhney’s exit means Geoff Allardice will continue as the acting CEO of the ICC.
“Chief Executive Manu Sawhney will leave the organisation with immediate effect. Geoff Allardice will continue as Acting CEO supported by the Leadership Team working closely with the ICC Board,”
the ICC said in a media release.
The meeting was conducted on Thursday after the ICC received a letter written by Sawhney, who had asked for his case to be heard by an Ethics Tribunal independently. As per a Cricbuzz report, the letter contained serious allegations against the governing body, including chairman Barclay.
During the meeting, Barclay sought opinions from the rest of the board members about terminating the contract of Sawhney, and once a unanimous decision was reached, he was asked to leave his post immediately.
As per Sawhney’s employment contract, Barclay has the authority to take action against him and remove him from his post. Sawhney was suspended on June 9 by ICC following allegations of subjecting the rest of the staff to “bullying, physical aggression, fist banging, impacting individuals’ health and wellbeing”, wrote Cricbuzz. He was also accused of implementing decisions without consulting the rest of the board.
These allegations were brought to light after the findings of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report. The PwC was tasked at the time to undertake a culturally independent assessment of the ICC. A disciplinary hearing in Sawhney’s case was conducted on June 17, with the matter concluding with his sacking this week.
Sawhney’s departure leaves ICC with the next task to appoint a full-time CEO as Allardice is in charge on an interim basis only. Cricbuzz reported that big names from ECB, CA and CSA could be in consideration for the post, with “Ravneet Gill, a former CEO of Yes Bank” being a possible Indian candidate.
