Dhaka [Bangladesh], March 18 (ANI): Bangladesh sports minister Aminul Haque will be consulting with the International Cricket Council (ICC) before taking a final decision on the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The minister also plans to appoint a second committee to investigate why Bangladesh could not participate in this year's ICC T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

On March 11, the sports ministry formed a committee to investigate and look into the matter of alleged irregularities, manipulation and abuse of power during last year's BCB elections. This move was met with some strong retaliation from BCB, who objected to the government's interference in their board's matters, as per ESPNCricinfo.

Haque, who led the country's national football side, said on Tuesday that once the five-member committee submits its report within a time frame of 15 days, he will hold discussions on BCB with the ICC.

'We are all aware of direct interference from our previous government in the BCB elections last year,' he said. 'I have spoken about it on a number of occasions. Following allegations from Dhaka clubs and the districts, we have formed an investigation committee. I will read their report, but my next step will come after I have spoken to the ICC,' he added.

Allegations of election engineering were made by cricket legend Tamim Iqbal and large group of Dhaka club officials when elections were held. There were allegations of interference against BCB president Aminul Islam before the elections. Aminul, in a signed letter sent weeks before the polls, asked the sports ministry to change the councillors from certain districts. Tamim also made allegations about the extension of the nomination filing deadline twice by the country's cricket governing body.

Tamim withdrew his candidacy from elections on October 1, while Aminul denied all allegations made by the former batter on October 5, a day before the elections.

Haque said that the investigation would examine the process via which district administrators changed their nominations before the elections.

'The investigation committee will speak to the BCB election commissioners, the current board president, BCB directors and the CEO. It will also get in touch with the district administrators who nominated the BCB councillors,' Haque said.

'There is an allegation that many of these district administrators sent the name of a new councillor after having already nominated one, following receipt of a letter [from Aminul]. I believe there has to be a neutral investigation of these matters,' he added.

On the T20 World Cup non-participation, which happened due to Bangladesh not sending a team to India following release of pacer Mustafizur Rahman from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad on instructions of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the light of atrocities against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, Haque said, 'We will try to find out why we didn't go to the World Cup. We have to understand why our sports diplomacy fell short. We will form an investigation committee on this subject after Eid. We have to strengthen our sports diplomacy and make sure we do not repeat this mistake in the future.'

Bangladesh was eventually replaced by Scotland in the tournament. They finished third in the Group C, with a win and three losses, failing to make it to the playoffs, suffering shock defeats to Nepal and Italy. (ANI)