By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 7: A report prepared in May has outlined serious allegations of financial irregularities, unauthorised payments, and systematic overbilling against the Meghalaya Cricket Association (MCA).
A copy of the report, titled ‘Meghalaya Cricket Association Financial Irregularities Report’, is with The Shillong Times. It alleges that the association incurred substantial financial losses with inflated travel bills, questionable election-related expenditures, and payments made without mandatory approval from the MCA Apex Council.
One of the major findings concerns alleged overbilling by travel agency Lone Tree Consultants Pvt Ltd, which has reportedly handled the association’s travel bookings for more than three years.
According to the report, documents comparing airline booking records with invoices submitted to the MCA revealed that the agency consistently charged the association more than 100% above the actual ticket costs.
The report cites the example of a February 3 booking for the MCA Under-23 Men’s team travelling from Guwahati to Chandigarh. While the actual IndiGo booking cost was Rs 3,55,330, the association was billed Rs 7,84,565, resulting in an alleged excess charge of Rs 4,29,235.
Similarly, for the Senior Women’s team travelling from Bhubaneswar to Guwahati on February 15, the report states that tickets costing Rs 3,10,932 were billed at Rs 6,81,028, leading to an alleged excess payment of Rs 3,70,096.
The report claims a pattern of fixed inflation of approximately Rs 20,000 per passenger across bookings involving 20 travellers. Three additional invoices were also flagged, with estimated excess charges exceeding Rs 12 lakh.
Overall, the report alleges that overbilling across five identified invoices exceeded Rs 23.7 lakh and claims the practice may have continued for over three years, resulting in losses running into crores of rupees. The report further alleges that invoices were cleared without verification of airline confirmations, competitive quotations or tendering procedures.
One major issue highlighted in the report concerns expenditure incurred during the MCA Apex Council elections in December 2025.
The report alleges that Aranya: The Merian Resort in Ri-Bhoi district billed the association twice for election-related events, totalling Rs 16.29 lakh.
According to the report, room bookings and food covers reflected in the invoices were disproportionate to the actual attendance, which it estimated at only 30 to 32 people, including candidates, voters, officials, and security personnel.
The report also points out that the election originally scheduled for December 9, 2025, was stayed by the High Court of Meghalaya on December 8 and was eventually conducted on December 19. Despite the stay order, bills relating to the earlier schedule were allegedly processed and paid.
The report seeks to know why a venue other than the less expensive MCA headquarters in Shillong was selected for the election.
The report further alleges that payments to Lone Tree Consultants and Aranya: The Merian Resort were cleared without obtaining approval from the Apex Council or sanction from the MCA president.
It claims that after a new Apex Council was constituted, payments were processed by the secretary and former treasurer despite them allegedly lacking authority to sign cheques pending the appointment of new signatories.
Additionally, the report raises concerns about banking transactions involving more than Rs 1.70 crore allegedly transferred through multiple RTGS transactions in a single afternoon. It notes that each transaction reportedly left an identical residual balance of Rs 10,000 in the account, describing the pattern as suspicious and warranting further scrutiny.
The report further added that there was “zero due diligence” in processing several payments and alleges a broader pattern of financial mismanagement, lack of transparency and failure to follow established approval procedures within the association.
