Cricket South Africa (CSA) today rubbished speculations that former ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat is the frontrunner for the position of chief executive and said the governing body will ensure that the election process is fair and transparent for all applicants.
The chief executive's position was vacated by tainted Gerald Majola after he was dismissed a few months ago following irregularities over IPL 2 bonuses.
There were speculations that a choice for the CEO's position has already been made by the CSA board and that the interview process was just a fa�ade.
However, CSA president Chris Nenzani today said that the CSA CEO has not been elected yet.
"The only name that CSA will release will be that of the successful candidate at the completion of the process," Nenzani said in a statement.
"CSA will ensure that the process is fair and transparent for all applicants and I must state, categorically, that at this stage no appointment has been made," Nenzani added.
In the past week, much had been made of alleged dissatisfaction by the BCCI over the possible appointment of Lorgat, who has been at loggerheads with the Indian board during his tenure at the ICC.
CSA independent director and former President Norman Arendse said they had discussed the concerns and the reported threat by BCCI to withdraw from a tour to South Africa if Lorgat was made CEO, during a meeting last week.
Acting chief executive at CSA, Naasei Appiah would not comment on this, but a CSA insider told media that the body could not afford to lose an inbound tour by India because of the income that it generated for CSA.
"(India does) generate much of (CSA's) income through television broadcasting deals and their tours help to sustain not only us, but other boards around the world," the source told the weekly City Press.
