Condon lauds CBI, Delhi police efforts
Onkar Singh
Head of the anti-corruption unit of the International Cricket Council Sir Paul Condon and
his team called on Sports Minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday.
Later, addressing a crowded press conference, Condon said he and his team have been encouraged by the response from Indian officials, particularly the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Delhi police.
"In two days we have managed to get enormous amount of material. We are not investigating Indian cricket
and Indian cricketers, because they have already been
investigated by the CBI. I must congratulate the CBI
and Delhi police for doing a good job.
"The CBI has done a
thorough job and what they have come out with is a
comprehensive report. Some questions have been raised
in the media as to why the Indian investigating agency
named the foreign players involved. My answer is
simple: that if they had not done and at some stage it
was found that the CBI knew about the involvement of
the foreign players in that case, the credibility of
the agency would have come into question.
"We are essentially investigating the involvement of the
foreign players. We have now enough material in hand
to proceed with further investigations with the help
of the investigating agencies in other
countries.
"The CBI report is a significant step forward in the
fight against corruption in cricket and I congratulate
the CBI for its thoroughness and professionalism," he
said.
He denied that match-fixing is essentially a
phenomenon prevailing in the Indian subcontinent.
"This is not the trouble of the cricket-playing
countries in this part of the subcontinent but it is
something that is taking roots in other parts of the
world as well. My investigators went to South Africa
and spoke to Hansie Cronje and we have got his answers
that would be carefully studied by us," he said, but
refused to elaborate on what Cronje told the investigators.
In fact, in response to most of the questions directed at him, he took shelter behind the words: "It
would be too premature to state anything at this stage
because it might hamper the investigations."
He said: "Maybe at some other stage I would be able to answer the questions better. Besides the people we have
officially confirmed to you, I am not prepared to
discuss if at all we had met any individual player or
bookie or anyone else."
Condon made it clear that he is working independently and would only report to Sir Griffiths, head of ICC's code
of conduct committee.
"We are determined to
leave no stone unturned in investigating these
allegations, but equally innocent players should not
be harassed. We have jointly agreed to move forward in
a coordinated fashion with colleagues around the
cricketing world, to take investigations to a further
stage. Those players who are involved in these criminal
activities must be punished either by the respective
boards or the law of the land.
"I agree that different countries have different laws. But there should be a
law to deal with the offense of match-fixing," said Condon.
Mail Cricket Editor