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SA cricketer confesses to taking 100,000 dollars in bribes |
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June
17, 2000 CAPE
TOWN, (AP) - Sacked South African cricket captain
Hansie Cronje confessed Thursday to taking about dlrs 100,000 in bribes
from gamblers since 1996, and also linked former Indian and Pakistani
captains to bookmakers.
Cronje,
who announced that he was ending his cricket career, told a
commission investigating corruption that he had accepted four separate
bribes over the past four years and turned down numerous other offers.
Reading
from a prepared statement, a somber Cronje claimed that he
had never thrown or fixed a match, but admitted to repeatedly lying about
his involvement with bookmakers.
Cronje
had previously acknowledged receiving only dlrs 8,200 in exchange
for match information during a triangular series with England and Zimbabwe
in South Africa earlier this year. His admission came after Indian police
implicated him and other players in match fixing in India.
The
confession by one of the country's most popular sporting heroes
has sparked the country's worst sporting scandal and prompted the
government to set up the commission of inquiry.
Cronje
said he had been motivated by greed, and described himself as
filled with shame, humiliation and pain.
"I
was not honest and apologize unreservedly," Cronje testified.
"I have decided to sever my connections with the game and will not
play cricket again at representative level."
Cronje,
30, said he now feared for his safety and that he had received
death threats.
He
testified he had first been offered dlrs 10,000 by an Indian or
Pakistani man called John in January 1995 to throw a game against
Pakistan. He declined.
But
Cronje said that when he walked onto the field he was asked by
Pakistani captain Salim Malik, whether he had spoken to John.
"It
was evident he knew about the approach I had received," Cronje
said of the Pakistani captain.
Malik
has been found guilty of match fixing in Pakistan and was banned
for life from the sport. He has vowed to appeal.
Cronje
said he took his first bribe, for dlrs 30,000, in 1996 from
a man introduced to him by former Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin.
During
South Africa's third test against India at Kanpur, Cronje said
he received a call from Azharuddin, who introduced him to Mukesh Gupta,
known as MK, in a hotel room.
"Azharuddin then departed and left us alone in the room. MK asked if we would give wickets away on the last day of the test to ensure that we lost," Cronje said.
"He
asked me to speak to the other players and gave me approximately 30,000
dollars to do so."
Cronje
claimed he then did nothing to influence the match, which South
Africa lost.
"I
had effectively received money for doing nothing," he said.
Cronje
said he received a dlrs 200,000 offer from MK to lose the final
one-day international on the tour, but when he put the offer to the team,
they refused.
Later
Cronje testified that when India toured South Africa in 1996-97,
MK had asked him for match information and he had supplied team selections
and a daily forecast. In the second test, Cronje told MK the score at
which South Africa would declare, and for this he was paid dlrs 50,000.
In
India, Azharuddin dismissed Cronje's testimony as "rubbish" and
denied any knowledge of Gupta.
"It's
a disgraced cricketer's desperate bid to deflect attention,"
Azharuddin was quoted as saying in a phone interview with the web site
Cricketnext.com. "I have played all my cricket honestly for more than
16 years."
Cronje
said he next accepted money in January this year during the
fifth test with England at Centurion Park in South Africa.
Cronje
said he had been approached by a man named Marlon Aronstam,
who urged him to make an early declaration to ensure the game had an
outcome.
"Marlon
said that if we declared and made a game of it, he would give
me 500,000 rand (dlrs 70,000) to a charity of my choice and also give me a
gift," Cronje said.
England
narrowly won, but Cronje said no South African players attempted
to throw the match.
Cronje
said Aronstam gave him a leather jacket and 50,000 rand (dlrs
7,000), but the donation to the charity never materialized.
Aronstam
told The Associate Press that certain elements of Cronje's
testimony were incorrect, but would not elaborate until he testifies
before the commission. He declined to say whether he had given Cronje
money.
Cronje
said he was approached in February by a London bookmaker known
as Sanjay, who gave him a box containing American dollars in exchange for
unspecified match information.
Cronje
said he had not counted the cash, which he kept at home in a
filing cabinet with other money. But after he handed over cash to the
South African Reserve Bank, he was told the amount was dlrs 10,000 to
15,000.
Cronje
was not cross-examined and the commission's hearings were adjourned
until Tuesday. The commission is expected to make interim findings by the
end of the month. |