BCB to clear payment of all players soon

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FE Report
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will soon clear payment of all the foreign and local players who participated in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) held in February in the country, officials said on Sunday.
However, the due amount of income tax will be deducted by the government from the respective players under the taxation rules of the country, the said.
"Income tax at 25 per cent and 10 per cent will be deducted at source from the earnings of overseas and local players respectively," Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir, member-secretary of the BPL governing body told the FE.
The decision to pay off the dues to all the BPL players were taken a meeting of the BCB on Saturday, after the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) had threatened to sue the BCB for delays in making full payment to the overseas players who participated in the BPL Twenty20 cricket tournament.
"The cricket board will make the payment and not a single player will remain unpaid," said the member secretary of the BPL governing body.
The amount payable to the overseas player was $2.77 million and most of the amount has been paid, leaving the unpaid amount at $305,000 which will be paid within few days.
If the franchises fail to pay the arrear amount, the BCB will make arrangement for the payment. If the franchises fail to pay off the arrear, BCB will not consider their membership for the future BPL event.
Local players will also be cleared soon.
The problem of payment to the players in the BPL, if it lingers on, is likely to hamper cricketing in Bangladesh and the next BPL event which is due to be held next January, may become uncertain as foreign players would then not feel anyway enthused about participating in the tournament in future, some observers in the country's sports arena said.
As most foreign players were yet to receive full payment despite repeated assurances and passage of a number deadlines for settling of payments since the first BPL event were held in February, the FICA has instructed its lawyers in Dhaka to file a claim against the relevant franchises and the BCB.
However, the BCB expressed its regret over such a threat from FICA, saying such a statement had hurt the fraternity of sports organisers and players, when no foreign player submitted any complaint to BCB individually over the delay in payment.
"The FICA statement has really hurt us," Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir said without giving details.
The BCB officials said Shahid Afridi of Pakistan who was hired by Dhaka team was paid off all his $700,000 dues last month, after deduction of the due amount of tax payable. Other foreign players also received partial payment of their amount of money against their respective contract.
A total of 48 players from the cricket world, except India, participated in the BPL, after they were hired through auction by six franchisers.
After Shahid Afridi, batsman Chris Gayle of the West Indies drew the second highest price at $551,000 from Barisal team through the auction in which 111 overseas players and 80 local cricketers offered themselves for participation.
Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard of the West Indies were hired at $360,000 and $300,000 by Rajshahi and Dhaka franchises respectively through the auction. Each team hired eight overseas players.
Pakistan's Shoaib Malik (Chittagong $150,000), the West Indies' Dwayne Bravo (Chittagong $150,000), Australia's Brad Hodge (Barisal $140,000) and Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya (Rajshahi $110,000) and Muttiah Muralitharan (Chittagong $100,000) were, among others, who drew big money.
Local players including six 'icons' also got lucrative amounts of money. But some of them are yet to be paid fully.