While he was director of cricket’s Anti-corruption Unit, former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Condon released a comprehensive summary of several major international inquiries, along with their findings, which included high-profile cases of some of the world’s most prominent players.
During the Singer World Cup series in Sri Lanka in September 1994, two of Australian’s star players, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, accepted money from an Indian bookmaker known to them as ‘John’ – one of several names used by Mukesh Gupta – for providing ‘weather and pitch’ information regarding matches in which Australia took part. Warne accepted $5,000, and Waugh pocketed $4,000.
Teams from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Australia took part in the tournament, and the Australian team stayed at the Lanka Oberoi Hotel in Colombo, a short distance from the city’s popular casino. Both Warne and Waugh visited the casino, and ‘John’ – who was also staying at the Lanka Oberoi – spoke to them while they were at the gambling tables. He openly told Waugh that he was a bookmaker, and asked him if he would be interested in providing pitch and weather information for matches that involved Australia, as well as inside knowledge about the team, tactics, and the names of those who had been selected to play.
‘John’ told Waugh that he would be paid $4,000, which Waugh accepted, and he also agreed to introduce the bookmaker to Warne, but stressed that he would not divulge anything that involved team tactics, or the names of players who had been selected for matches. According to official inquiries, Waugh was alleged to have given ‘John’ information ‘about ten times over five months’, and that this included matches played by Australia in Pakistan, the 1994/95 home Ashes series, matches in New Zealand, and matches in the West Indies.
‘John’ allegedly gave Warne an envelope containing $5,000 as a show of appreciation for meeting him, and Warne said that he provided pitch and weather information to ‘John’ before three matches during the 1994/95 Ashes series – a One-day Test against England in Sydney; the Second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; and the Fifth Test at the WACA in Perth.
This clandestine contact that Warne and Waugh had enjoyed with the Indian bookmaker came to an abrupt end when a journalist told Ian McDonald, who was then the Australian team manager, what he believed was going on. Officials from the ACB interviewed Warne and Waugh who handed over unsigned handwritten statements concerning the acceptance of money from ‘John’. After attending a further interview with ACB officials, both Warne and Waugh ‘made admissions’, and Warne was fined A$8,000 and Waugh A$10,000.
After the Warne and Waugh allegations were revealed in the media, the Australian Cricket Board came under heavy attack from an angry public for the way in which it had handled the affair, and it responded by appointing lawyer Rob O’Reagan QC to head up a Player Conduct Inquiry to cover six years from January 1992 to December 1998.
O’Reagan’s duties included: ‘To investigate whether any of Australia’s contracted players had engaged in conduct that related to betting, bribery, match-fixing, the unauthorised accepting of money or other benefits, and related matters. Also to investigate the disciplinary processes that were available to consider such conduct.’
Because the inquiry was totally private, O’Reagan could not compel potential witnesses to give evidence, was not protected by absolute privilege, and crucially did not offer a complete defence against an action for alleged defamation. O’Reagan focused on events that had surrounded Australian players in respect of:
• allegations that the second match of the 1992 World XI versus an Indian XI was rigged
• allegations that Allan Border was approached to fix the final Test during the 1993 Ashes tour of England
• acceptance of $4,000 by Mark Waugh and $5,000 by Shane Warne during the 1994 Sri Lankan/Pakistan tour
• alleged approach to Ricky Ponting for match information in 1997
• alleged approach to Mark Taylor for ‘weather and pitch’ information during the 1998 Pakistan tour.
During an extensive investigation, O’Reagan’s assistants conducted 60 interviews, while he handled ten, and he eventually released his hugely critical report on 28 February 1999. O’Reagan slated the ACB for the way in which it had dealt with the Warne/Waugh case, and described the fine each player was given as ‘inadequate, as their size did not reflect the seriousness of what they had done’.
He believed both players should have been given a lengthy suspension, and in a scathing summary, O’Reagan concluded: ‘They must have known that it was wrong to accept from, and supply information to, a bookmaker whom they also knew bet on cricket. Otherwise they would have reported the incident to team management long ago, before they were found out in February 1995. In behaving as they did, they failed lamentably to set the sort of example one might expect from senior players and role models for youngsters.’
O’Reagan recommended that the ACB should review the way in which it dealt with serious disciplinary proceedings, publicity of such proceedings, penalties to be imposed, and counselling for players with gambling interests. Warne and Waugh said that they had been ‘naïve and stupid’, though neither of them used the word ‘greedy’. Former Australian batting legend Neil Harvey said that, if it had been up to him, they would have been banned.
An inquiry was initiated by the Pakistan Cricket Board, under Chairman Justice Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, to look into allegations by Australian players regarding the First Test between Pakistan and Australia in Karachi in 1994, and a One-day International in Rawalpindi.
Some months after the Test match, a newspaper alleged that Salim Malik (a leading Pakistan player) had offered Australian trio Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May $200,000 to manipulate the game on the final day. Waugh also alleged that Malik offered him $200,000 for four or five Australian players to under-perform during the One-day International in Rawalpindi. The inquiry team became frustrated when the Australian players did not travel to Pakistan to give evidence, and the team was forced to rely on statements and the cross-examination of Malik.
In February 1995, the International Cricket Council urged the Pakistan Cricket Board to be discreet, ‘always bearing in mind the damage to the image of cricket if allegations were made in public in any way’. Justice Ibrahim concluded the proceedings in October 1995, stating: ‘The allegations against Saleem [sic] Malik are not worthy of any credence, and must be rejected as unfounded.’
Following revelations in Outlook magazine, the Board of Control for Cricket in India appointed Justice Y V Chandrachud to inquire into allegations of betting and match-fixing by Indian cricketers and/or management. The magazine had alleged that Manoj Prabhakar (a prominent Indian bowler) had been offered approximately $53,000 by an Indian team colleague to under-perform during the 1994 Singer Cup match between India and Pakistan, in order to favour Pakistan.
Justice Chandrachud concluded his thorough investigation in November 1997, when he stated that although he had accepted that large-scale betting occurred in India, he was unwilling to accept, upon the information provided to him, that there was proof that any Indian player, official or journalist had been involved in such activity. The result of this inquiry remained undisclosed for a further two-and-a-half years.
Pakistan set up a one-man judicial commission to investigate allegations that members of the national team had been involved in betting and match-fixing, and Mr Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum was appointed to the commission. The term ‘match-fixing’ was defined as ‘deciding the outcome of a match before it was played, and then playing, or having others to play, below their ability to influence the outcome to be in accordance with the pre-decided outcome… and undertaken primarily for pecuniary gain’.
Justice Qayyum considered two offences – match-fixing, and bringing the team into disrepute – and it quickly became apparent that Pakistan’s star batsman Salim Malik was the focal point of many of the allegations. Australian players Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor appeared as personal witnesses, and alleged that Malik had approached them shortly before a One-day International in Rawalpindi on 22 October 1994, and asked Waugh if he could persuade the Australian team to throw the match.
However, neither of them mentioned the undisclosed ACB 1995 finding that Waugh and Warne had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker, a fact that Taylor was also very much aware of, though not involved in. The ACB finding was only revealed in December 1998, after Waugh and Taylor had given evidence before Justice Qayyum. As a result of this subsequent disclosure, the Qayyum inquiry switched to Australia, where a special hearing was convened under Pakistan law, and they heard directly from Waugh and Warne.
Justice Qayyum eventually reported that: ‘The allegation that the Pakistan team as a whole is involved in match-fixing is just based on allegation, conjecture and surmises, without positive proof. As a whole, the players of the Pakistan cricket team are innocent.’ But Justice Qayyum had not finished. He followed up with a stinging knockout blow, concluding that the evidence against Salim Malik was sound and acceptable, and recommended that this national hero should be banned from cricket for life, and that there should be an inquiry into his assets.
He further recommended that Ata-ur-Rehman should be similarly banned for life. Additionally, Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Akram Raza, Basit Ali and Saeed Anwar were all subject to various penalties, including being warned, censured, further investigated, or kept under observation.
Justice Qayyum also recommended that the captaincy of Pakistan should be removed from Wasim Akram. Fines were recommended for Salim Malik, Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Ata-ur-Rehman, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Akram Raza and Saeed Anwar.
Justice Qayyum’s devastating conclusions represented an unprecedented exposure of international cricket wrongdoing, with so many icons being found guilty of on-field offences. It was a terribly sad day for world cricket. Deeply concerned by all that he had ascertained, Justice Qayyum advised the Pakistan Cricket Board to order the players to declare their assets and, if necessary, to investigate their accounts.
A series of recommendations was also made to try to prevent future match-fixing incidents, which included:
• character of captain and manager
• independent team ombudsman on foreign tours
• new code of conduct
• increase to players’ pay and conditions
• educate players about entrapment by bookmakers
• enforce strict discipline with zero tolerance.
Stephen Fleming, captain of New Zealand, was approached by two Indian gentlemen in his team’s hotel in Leicester and asked if he would ‘fix’ the Third Test against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, on 5 August 1999. Fleming emphatically rejected what the Indian pair had proposed, and referred the matter to his team manager.
A day or two later, former England all-rounder Chris Lewis was similarly approached by two Indian gentlemen, who also wanted him to ‘fix’ the Third Test or, alternatively, other matches involving England. He, too, flatly rejected the offer and the incident was reported to the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Metropolitan Police, which launched an immediate criminal investigation and exchanged information with New Delhi Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation in India.
The result of the investigation was passed to the UK judicial authorities for consideration, but no action was taken against anyone, and the case was completely dropped.
It was while the New Delhi Police were monitoring telephone calls made by an Indian national that they accidentally overheard a conversation in which the name of Hansie Cronje, the highly respected captain of the South African cricket team, was mentioned, and, having been alerted, they subsequently listened to him discussing details of match-fixing.
New Delhi Police promptly launched a full-scale investigation, primarily centred on the association between Cronje and other South African players, London-based businessman Sanjay Chawla, and two Indian bookmakers. In May 2000, the police charged Cronje and several of his South African colleagues in their absence with cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy. At the time of writing, the case is still unresolved.
After the sensational revelations of substantial match-fixing involving Hansie Cronje (see Chapter Nine) and his subsequent unforced confession to officials of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB), the country’s President set up a major inquiry into match-fixing, chaired by Judge Ewin King and later referred to as the King Commission.
Among the terms of reference for King’s preliminary investigation was that Cronje had confessed to accepting approximately $10,000 from a bookmaker during the triangular tournament between South Africa, England and Zimbabwe in January and February 2001. The UCB revealed that it had first become aware of allegations that Cronje had been involved in match-fixing on 7 April 2000.
Cronje adamantly denied the allegations at first, but then confessed to accepting money from bookmaker Sanjay Chawla for being involved in cricket malpractice with the South African team. It was irrefutably established that South African bookmaker Hamid Cassim had introduced Cronje to Chawala, and further evidence revealed that Cronje had approached several South African players in a light-hearted and jocular manner, suggesting that money could be made by fixing the results of cricket matches. This was perceived as Cronje’s way of testing the interest of players.
In the main, the players literally laughed it off, but batsman Herschelle Gibbs and bowler Henry Williams were later named in Cronje’s elaborate web of corruption. It was during the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation in India that the country’s iconic batsman Mohammad Azharuddin had admitted to introducing Cronje to bookmaker Mukesh Gupta.
Wasting no time, Gupta then propositioned Cronje, who accepted $30,000 to ensure that South Africa lost the Third Test starting the next day, which they did, but Cronje insisted that he did nothing to influence the result. Around this period, Gupta made an offer to Cronje for South Africa to lose a One-day International match which was initially played as a benefit game for Mohinder Amarnath, but subsequently revised to qualify as an official international fixture.
Cronje approached several South African players to make them aware of the huge offer, reportedly around $250,000, for them to play badly in the One-day match. Cronje later indicated that the offer was increased by a further $100,000, but after meetings that involved senior players, and the team as a whole, Gupta’s proposition was rejected.
The highly lucrative Gupta/Cronje partnership ended abruptly in November 1997, apparently after Cronje had turned down certain undisclosed Gupta proposals. With Gupta off the scene, it was alleged that Cronje still influenced the result of the Fifth Test against England at Centurion Park, Pretoria, in January 2000. South Africa had scored 155-6 at close of play on the first day, and the second, third and fourth days were all washed out by rain.
On the eve of the final day’s play, Cronje spoke to Marlon Aronstam, an expert in sports betting, who urged him to ‘make a game of it’. South Africa batted on during the last day until Cronje declared at 248-8. Both teams forfeited an innings, which left England to score 249 for victory, which they achieved with two wickets and five balls remaining in the match.
Aronstam had reportedly agreed to make a donation of 200,000 rand to a charity of Cronje’s choice if he could ensure a victory to either side. Cronje later said the offer was 500,000 rand ($60,000 at the time). Aronstam also testified that he paid Cronje 50,000 rand as an ‘advance’ for future cooperation about pitch reports.
The UCB banned Cronje for life, and Gibbs and Williams were both banned from international cricket for six months but allowed to play in domestic matches. Gibbs was also fined 60,000 rand and Williams 10,000 rand for accepting a $15,000 bribe offered to Cronje to under-perform in a One-day International.