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Zero proof Cronje says tapes aren't evidence of match-fixing
Posted: Thursday June 22, 2000 04:08 PM
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Embattled former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje said Thursday that taped telephone recordings made by Indian police do not prove that he was involved in match-fixing. The police tapes of Cronje's conversations with gamblers during a tour of India this year ignited South Africa's biggest sporting scandal, and prompted the government to establish a commission of inquiry to probe corruption in cricket. Cronje dodged several questions about the tapes, but conceded having numerous conversations with a gambler he knew as Sanjay while in India. Cronje previously admitted to receiving between $10,000 and $15,000 from Sanjay and payments from two other gamblers in return for match information -- but he denies ever having fixed a match. The commission has been unable to get the tapes or transcripts from India, and has based part of its inquiry on media reports. Asked if a report of one transcript was authentic, Cronje said: "I had a lot of conversations with Sanjay. That could well be one of those conversations." He later asked angrily: "Am I to be tried in the media?" Sanjay is believed to be London bookmaker Sanjiv Chawla, who has been implicated by Indian police, but Cronje said he had never been introduced to him by that name. Cronje complained that the tapping of his telephone conversations was an invasion of his privacy, and did not give an accurate impression of their overall discussions. "Ninety-five percent of the time I spoke to Sanjay, I was stringing him along," he said. Cronje also said an incorrect perception had been created that huge amounts of money had been transferred into his account. To date, he has acknowledged receiving about $100,000 in six separate illicit payments between 1996 and this year. Earlier, Cronje had detailed his acceptance of money from gamblers. He has been offered indemnity from criminal prosecution in exchange for full disclosure to the commission.
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