A community campaign to repair a cricket pitch in Dhaka has opened an unexpected fight over a Tk 34.6 million (about €235,000; $272,000) inheritance. The money sits in a savings cooperative account opened by a former club scorekeeper, Yonas Paulsen, who named Khilgaon Crown XI as beneficiary in 1999. A relative disputes the designation, and the cooperative has frozen the balance.
The row has already reached the field: the Dhaka East Cricket Council suspended the club’s registration for its autumn cup on Monday, pending a financial audit. The team was due to host a semi-final on 5 November. Council chair Nelson Gomes-Pacheco said the rules require clubs to declare endowments above Tk 5 million, even when they have not yet received the money.
A clean-up finds a legacy
The discovery followed a campaign launched on 11 October by residents seeking to patch the ground’s cracked practice strip and replace its splintered scoreboard. Forty-six volunteers collected Tk 620,000 from local shops and households. When they asked Jolshiri Savings Cooperative to open a dedicated account for the club, staff found Paulsen’s dormant deposit in its beneficiary register.
Mirsad Koren, the campaign coordinator, said the cooperative contacted the club after matching its registration number to the old form. “We came to ask for paint and sand. Instead, someone told us a fortune might be waiting for our team,” he said. The cooperative says the account began with Tk 180,000 and grew through accumulated returns; it has not released a single taka.
We came to ask for paint and sand. Instead, someone told us a fortune might be waiting for our team.
Mirsad Koren, campaign coordinator
Paulsen, a former scorekeeper who died in 2019, had signed a cooperative form dated 3 June 1999. Secretary Tak Yow Fadzil said the form allows members to name a registered community association, not only a relative, as the recipient. “We are checking the signature and the club’s legal status before any transfer. The money stays untouched until that review is finished,” he said.
Tournament place in doubt
Ieva Dina, Paulsen’s niece and one of three people named in a 2018 probate order, says the club’s claim should not be treated as settled. She says her family learned of the account only this month and is asking the cooperative to recognise the probate order. “A beneficiary card is not the same thing as a family agreeing that the money belongs to a club,” she said.
Gomes-Pacheco said the council froze Khilgaon Crown XI’s registration because its rules require an audited account for any club with access to a large endowment. The suspension does not bar the players from competing for other teams, he said, but the club must submit its audit by 2 November to regain its cup place. Its scheduled semi-final has been moved to a neighbouring ground.
The club’s treasurer has asked the cooperative for a full account history, while campaign volunteers have stopped work on the practice strip until the dispute is resolved. Koren said residents would continue collecting small donations, but would not accept money from the account. The cooperative’s review is due to go before its committee on 4 November, one day before the club’s scheduled match.
For now, the pitch remains playable but rough, and the campaign’s modest repair fund is separate from the disputed savings. The cricket council says it will reconsider the suspension if the club files its audit on time. If the beneficiary claim fails, the cooperative says the balance will be handled under its rules and the probate order—not handed to the campaign.
