STJOHN’S, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has apologized for public statements made about the arbitrator of a dispute between the WICB and middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan.
A statement released by the WICB Friday expressed deepest and sincere regret and came in the wake of threats by arbitrator,?Senior Counsel (SC) Seenath Jairam, to take legal action.
The WICB statement had accused Jairam of preventing WICB lawyers from crossing examining Sarwan during a hearing to resolve the dispute and also accused him of being unfair in his ruling.
“The conduct of the arbitration by Mr Jairam, SC, was in all respects fair and proper and the WICB unequivocally retracts any statement or impression to the contrary which may have been given by its previous statement and in an interview between our former chief executive officer, Dr Ernest Hilaire and the hosts of The Zone, a sports programme broadcast SportsMax,” said the WICB statement.
“The WICB hereby issues this categorical public apology to Mr Seenath Jairam, SC, along with our deepest and sincere regret for any distress or embarrassment caused to him by the statement.”
Sarwan had lodged the case in conjunction with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) in March 2011 accusing the board of unfairly questioning his fitness and attitude and wrongfully denying him a central contract.
He was awarded US$161 000 (BDS$322 000) in damages after winning his case against the WICB. (CMC)
