Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ad hoc committee president Tamim Iqbal said the board would rather not hold the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) than stage another “patchwork” edition that harms both the BCB’s reputation and the country’s image globally.

His remarks came during a press conference on Thursday where he said he had “exposed” several irregularities surrounding the 12th edition of the BPL.

Tamim, alongside current BPL governing council chairman Fahim Sinha, addressed the media following revelations over the mismanagement of last season’s tournament.

Fahim disclosed that two franchises -- Sylhet Titans and Noakhali Express -- neither signed formal agreements nor fulfilled certain criteria outlined in the BCB’s Letter of Intent (LOI).

Fahim also claimed that the BCB suffered losses of around Tk 14-16 crore from the previous edition.

Tamim said the board’s failure to enforce its own regulations was not merely an error but, in his view, a “crime”.

“You can make mistakes. You can work towards a certain plan but can’t make it happen and that is a mistake, which is fine. But when you knowingly make these mistakes, that is a crime in my opinion,” Tamim said.

He further criticised the acceptance of bank guarantees submitted through cheques, insisting such payments could not be treated as legitimate guarantees. 
Tamim added that both the franchises and those responsible for approving them must be held accountable.

“If you tell franchises that the rule is a Tk 10-crore bank guarantee and then do not follow it, instead accepting a Tk 2-crore bank guarantee, and then these franchises are not making player payments, the franchises would know they can gain an advantage here since the BCB would pay the players in the end. This system has to be stopped strictly. If I do something like this [allowing such franchises in BPL] by breaking the rules and players and BCB suffer because of that, then I need to be accountable too,” he added.

Tamim maintained that cancelling the tournament would be preferable to staging another poorly organised edition.

“When I said that it’s better not to hold BPL like this, I meant it. Without any reason you have to hold BPL in a patchwork manner, taking Tk 2 crore as bank guarantee instead of Tk 10 crore, it’s better not to do it. In future, those who will come [into the board], I hope they will work on it,” he said.