Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 16, 2013 News
…value of franchise kept confidential
The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) says it specifically targeted the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (New GPC) to buy the Guyana franchise.
The League promises to become the Caribbean’s most lucrative and popular form of cricket, the game which has established itself as the national sport in territories across the Region.
“CPL (has) been very specific in targeting strategic partners who we understand can bring a lot of value to the teams, the locality, the community and the league,” Rhonda Kelley, spokesperson for the League told Kaieteur News.
The CPL is not disclosing any information about the cost of the franchise in Guyana or the other five territories, namely Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua.
Asked to what extent national governments in the Caribbean are supporting the league, Kelley said “there is a sponsorship opportunity for each Government that CPL is offering.”
This year’s CPL will start on June 30 and concludes on August 24.
“GPC /Limacol is a fantastic example of this and we are honoured and privileged they have become the very first Franchise holders in this incredible sports entertainment product,” Kelley added.
This week, the CPL announced New GPC, owned by executive Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop, as the franchise holder for the Guyana team. The Guyana team would bear the New GPC’s Limacol brand, which is popular throughout the Caribbean and further afield.
Dr Ramroop has been a controversial figure in Guyanese politics. He is the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo. The biggest scandal involving Ramroop is the widespread claims that Jagdeo favoured him with multi-billion-dollar contracts to import medicinal drugs for the country’s health service without a competitive bidding process and on terms that lacked transparency.
Further, it was under Jagdeo that Ramroop bought the sprawling Sanata Industrial Complex just outside the city for below market value.
Through that transaction, he was granted concessions not allowed in law. Jagdeo later got his legislators, who then had majority controlling power in the National Assembly, to fix up the laws to accommodate the concessions that were handed to Ramroop.
Further, just before he left office, Jagdeo handed Ramroop five radio frequencies to broadcast. This matter is now the subject of a High Court challenge by local media owners who claim the process was discriminatory.
CPL officials met with local government officials in May, but the League says that the government did not suggest or in any way front-load Ramroop to be the franchise holder.
“There is no Government influence in any way,” Kelley said when asked about the government’s role in Ramroop’s acquisition of the franchise.
She said: “…CPL was very specific on who it approached and how. NEW GPC was specifically targeted and approached by CPL as a company that added immense strategic value to the CPL.”
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