South African cricket’s disgraced former chief executive failed to get his job back on Thursday, having been fired for paying himself and others unauthorised bonuses and then concealing them.
The Labour Court in South Africa dismissed Gerald Majola’s appeal against his firing, national federation Cricket South Africa said.
Majola lost his job in October when a disciplinary panel found him guilty of nine charges relating to the misuse of CSA funds. The panel ruled he had paid unauthorised bonuses to himself and other staff members with money from South Africa’s hosting of the 2009 Indian Premier League tournament. He had been suspended earlier in 2012.
Majola then withdrew from his disciplinary hearing and refused to attend its final days, questioning its legitimacy.
CSA still found that he paid himself 1.7 million rand $US195,000 ($A220,000) and lied about it, and also misused his travel allowance. Majola also paid 4.7 million rand ($A607,000) to other members of CSA staff. The payments to himself and others were not authorised by the national cricket body’s finance committee.
Majola was permanently replaced at CSA by former International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat in July.
Reacting to the court dismissing Majola’s legal challenge, Lorgat told Eyewitness News in South Africa on Thursday that “the sooner we can get the focus back to cricket the better for all of us.”
Top-ranked Test team South Africa will host India and Australia in series at the end of this year and the beginning of 2014.