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Cronje breaks down after testimony |
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June 24, 2000
CAPE TOWN (AP) - Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje broke down in tears Friday after being grilled for three days about his acceptance of illicit payments.
Cronje had retained his composure throughout the 11 hours of questioning this week before a commission investigating corruption in South African cricket, but began crying as he was excused from the witness stand.
He stumbled as he was being rushed from the hearing room and an aide grabbed his shoulder to stop him from falling.
Cronje was removed as captain after admitting to accepting money from a bookmaker. He has since admitted to accepting five separate payments totaling about dlrs 100,000, and said a dlrs 20,000 deposit into his bank account could also have come from a gambler.
In Friday's testimony, Cronje denied that a payment from a gambler motivated him to make an early declaration in test match against England in January. Had he not made the declaration, it appeared the match was likely to be a draw.
But during the rain-interrupted match, Cronje suggested to England that each side forfeit an inning, and South Africa would make an early declaration, giving the English team a target to chase. England accepted and narrowly won the match.
Last week, Cronje told the commission that Johannesburg bookmaker Marlon Aronstam had suggested he make the early declaration to produce an outcome, and in return Aronstam would give him a gift and make a donation to a charity.
"I think I was trying to make a match of it and I wanted to win it," Cronje testified Friday. "I don't think the gift was the sole motivation for it. Before I walked on the field I didn't even know what the gift was."
Aronstam made three payments to Cronje totaling 53,000 rand (dlrs 7,500) and gave him a leather jacket. The donation to the charity never materialized.
When Cronje finished his testimony, Aronstam took the stand and also broke down in tears, leading to a short adjournment.
Aronstam later testified that within an hour of meeting Cronje, the cricketer had effectively "suggested he throw a game of cricket. You can believe it or not. I was shocked."
Aronstam said Cronje had asked him how he could make money from cricket.
"I said you could make money by supplying me with match reports.
The ball is in your court," Aronstam said of his conversation with Cronje. "I paid Hansie the 50,000 rand for pitch reports ... and other information he could supply such as the weather."
The bookmaker denied that the money was for Cronje's early declaration against England, and said Cronje knew this. He conceded he could have made big money from the game had he known earlier there was to be an outcome, but said he had not bet on the match.
Aronstam said he regarded accurate pitch reports as invaluable information when betting on cricket matches and regarded Cronje as an expert.
Also Friday, Cronje admitted he tried to cheat his own teammates when he enticed them into accepting money for a substandard performance.
Cronje said he told a gambler called Sanjay that his teammates Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams wanted dlrs 25,000 each to perform poorly in a match against India on March 19. Cronje had offered them dlrs 15,000 each to play badly.
A commission official then asked Cronje about the discrepancy between the amounts.
"Maybe I was trying to cut something for myself," he said.
Cronje received offers worth a total of dlrs 140,000 for the entire team in that match. Cronje and the other two players said they reneged on the deal, won the match and were never paid.
Cronje said he did not know whether Sanjay was London bookmaker Sanjiv Chawla, who has been implicated in the scam by Indian police.
The scandal broke after Indian police taped conversations Cronje had during the India tour earlier this year with Sanjay and Johannesburg businessman Hamid Cassiem. Cronje claims he repeatedly lied to Sanjay about trying to influence matches.
The
commission must submit interim findings to President Thabo H |