Corruption inquiry nearing end, says ICC chief

Dave Richardson hopes to make announcements soon.

WELLINGTON:

An inquiry into corruption that has rocked world cricket is entering its final stages, officials said on Saturday, as former New Zealand international Chris Cairns was to fly to London to be interviewed by police.

Cairns has vehemently denied any involvement in corruption but believes he is the person alleged to be ‘Player X’ — the match-fixing ringleader mentioned by former team-mates Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum.

International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Dave Richardson said he believed investigators were ‘not far away’ from interviewing Cairns and the inquiry would be wrapped up in a matter of weeks.

“We are at the end of the investigation,” Richardson told Radio Sport. “It is close to being finalised and I’m sure Chris Cairns will be spoken to and given an opportunity to put his side of the story.”

Cairns’ lawyer confirmed to the New Zealand Herald that he was heading to England on Saturday to be interviewed.

“Chris Cairns is meeting with the Met police to conclude the interview he started and is also hoping to meet with the ICC anti-corruption unit,” said Cairns’ lawyer Aaron Lloyd.

According to a series of leaked documents in recent weeks, Vincent provided a ‘treasure trove’ of information about different offers to fix matches.

When details of Vincent´s testimony first emerged, the ICC suggested it could take more than a year before the investigation was completed, but Richardson has now indicated ‘a matter of weeks’ was realistic.

“Although part of it does involve a police investigation in the UK, which I can´t really vouch for as to when that will be finalised,” added Richardson.“But certainly from our perspective the investigations are close to finality and hopefully we should be making announcements pretty soon.”

No probe shut down, says ACSU chief

The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of the ICC has categorically denied that the investigation was ‘shut down’ into the 2011 CB40 match between Kent and Sussex in Hove by the ruling body, according to ESPNcricinfo.

ThE match saw New Zealand’s Lou Vincent and Pakistan-born first-class cricketer Naveed Arif being involved in alleged match-fixing and then being charged by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“That was not at all the case,” said Ronnie Flanagan, head of the ACSU.

“There was some correspondence between the ICC and Sussex and the ECB back then. As far as Sussex were concerned, they came to the conclusion at that early stage that this was a clean match.

“In fact it was through the ACSU’s work, including work with Lou Vincent, we came to the conclusion that this match had to be re-examined and we immediately passed on the intelligence to the ECB.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2014.

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