STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Friday
RETIRED Judge Edwin King, who is heading a commission probing corruption in South African cricket, has doubts about whether disgraced cricket captain Hansie Cronje has come clean about his illicit involvement with bookmakers.
King’s interim report was made public on Friday, two weeks after it was handed over to the government. It is mainly a summary of the commission’s terms of reference and testimony presented before it during public hearings in June.
However in the report King refers to Cronje’s testimony about his dealings with London bookmaker Sanjay Chawla, and says it may not be accurate.
“It was apparent to Cronje from his first meeting with Sanjay that merely supplying him with information would not be sufficient for Sanjay who wanted Cronje to lose matches and to get other players to assist him in this,” King wrote.
“In fact Sanjay said he needed a match where there was a certainty of South Africa losing. Sanjay told Cronje there would be a further sum of money coming to Cronje if he could give Sanjay the right result. These facts are reiterated with the thought that they are not readily reconcilable with the notion of Cronje spinning Sanjay along.”
Cronje has consistently claimed he never threw a cricket match, saying he only took money for match information.
King can recommend that Cronje be given indemnity from criminal prosecution if he makes a full and frank disclosure about his gambling deals. However the interim report contains no recommendations, which will only be drawn up once the commission has completed its hearings, which are due to resume on October 2.