Weekly integrity in sport update from INTERPOL 11-17 January 2016
This week there are several cases of match-fixing in cricket being reported in New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Interesting to note is a suspension made by the International Cricket Council against a player who failed to report. This one highlights the importance of reporting approaches of match-fixing in order to protect the integrity of sports and sportsmanship.
CURRENT INVESTIGATION
New Zealand
Our Match-Fixing Corresponding: In shocking new accusations made by a newspaper in New Zealand, it is alleged that Mohammad Amir, the once-disgraced Pakistani pacer, is back to his match-fixing ways again. “We have proof, solid proof,” read the editorial of the New Zealand Enquirer, “that Amir took money to perform well at the T20 against the Kiwis.” “The devious plan did not work at first, with him almost getting Kane Williamson caught,” said Fred Smith, sports editor of the New Zealand Enquirer at a press conference. “But they still managed to bring to fruition this unsportsmanlike business by taking the wicket of Matt Henry and maintaining an economy of 1 for 31 from four overs.” In reply to a question about whether the Enquirer had an leads on who had organised the match-fixing, Smith replied in the affirmative, taking out a piece of paper from a file. “The name of the mastermind who paid him to perform in this match is a shadowy organisation by the name of the Pakistan Cricket Board.”
Source: Khabaristan Today, "Match-fixing allegations: Amir took money to perform well at NZ T20", 16 January 2016, Pakistan Today, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/01/16/features/match-fixing-allegations-amir-took-money-to-perform-well-at-nz-t20/
South Africa
Two ‘active’ former Test cricketers are believed to be involved in the fresh match-fixing scandal that hit South African cricket on Thursday, English daily The Guardian reported.
Investigators working on the case are understood to have interrogated 47 players and staff in the country. On Thursday, former South Africa One-day International and Twenty20 player Gulam Bodi was named as the person charged under Cricket South Africa’s anti-corruption code.
Bodi was charged with contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the 2015 South African domestic Twenty20 competition. Those proven guilty to have manipulated matches could face potential jail sentences with match-fixing illegal in South Africa under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act Law. The law contains a clause for sporting events. It was passed in 2004, four years after the former SA captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life for his involvement in match-fixing.
Source: AP, "Two former Test cricketers involved in SA match-fixing scandal: report", 17 January 2016, Dawn Sport, https://www.dawn.com/news/1233396/two-former-test-cricketers-involved-in-sa-match-fixing-scandal-report
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s cricket captain Angelo Mathews was summoned on Thursday to the Financial Crimes Division (FCID) and asked to appear again tomorrow to give his views on the match fixing issue that has taken local sports by storm. National cricketers Kusal Janith Perera and Rangana Herath had been grilled by the FCID for about six hours on January 12, over their own complaints that they were approached to under-perform during the recently concluded West Indies tour of Sri Lanka. National cricketers have been asked to report such incidents without delay if and when they are approached by agents of book-makers active around the world.
Sri Lanka Cricket’s new Secretary Mohan de Silva told the Sunday Times, “It is natural that Mathews as the captain of the Sri Lanka national team would have to explain his side of the story.” He said the national team’s Manager Jerry Woutersz gave a statement to the FCID on Friday. “We would do everything to ensure the safety and integrity of the national cricketers, but, if a cricketer is involved in any misdeeds we will also ensure that he is given the harshest possible punishment", de Silva said. “When we got wind of this issue, we began to work with the local anti-corruption unit of the ICC (International Cricket Council) and this is the normal course of action. But, somehow the story also attracted the attention of the Sports Minister and he in turn handed the matter to the Police”, he added.
Source: S. R. Pathiravithana, "Match-fixing probe: Kusal asked to get out below 18 ", 17 January 2016, The Sunday Times, https://www.sundaytimes.lk/160117/sports/match-fixing-probe-kusal-asked-to-get-out-below-18-179077.html
