Former New Zealand skipper Cairns accused of perjury

Court also heard that 45-year-old tried to recruit McCullum

LONDON: Former New Zealand captain Chris Cairns lied under oath that he never fixed cricket matches and once threatened to hit a teammate with a bat, heard a perjury trial on Wednesday.

Cairns was accused by the chairman of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi in January 2010 of match-fixing while playing for the Chandigarh Lions in the now defunct Indian Cricket League.

Two years later Cairns brought a libel action against Modi and successfully sued for £1.4million.

But prosecutor Sasha Wass told London’s Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday that Cairns’ co-accused, Andrew Fitch-Holland, a lawyer and his “lead adviser”, approached teammate, Lou Vincent, to get him to lie during the libel action.

Vincent not only knew Cairns had fixed matches, but was involved in match-fixing himself under the direct orders of Cairns, said Wass.

Wass said there was evidence to prove Cairns had been involved in match-fixing and had lied about it under oath.

The jury was also told that Vincent was once threatened with a cricket bat by Cairns after scoring too many runs in a fixed game, telling his then wife Eleanor Riley he had “lost Chris Cairns $250,000”.

The court also heard that Cairns had even attempted to recruit current New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.

Cairns has now been charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, while Fitch-Holland is accused of perverting the course of justice. They both deny the charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2015.

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