Al Jazeera plans documentary on alleged spot-fixing claims against current & former Aus players

[MenInG]

Cricket Australia confirms it has been notified by Al Jazeera of plans to produce a follow-up documentary on alleged corruption in the global game involving spot-fixing claims against current and former Australian players relating to historical matches from 2011.

Cricket Australia CEO, James Sutherland said:

We are aware of the new investigative documentary by Al Jazeera into alleged corruption in cricket.

Since the broadcast of Al Jazeera’s first documentary, the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit has been conducting a thorough investigation into the claims made, however this has been hampered by a lack of cooperation from Al Jazeera.

Although not having been provided an opportunity to review any raw audio or footage, our long-standing position on these matters is that credible claims should be treated very seriously, and investigated.

Cricket Australia’s Integrity Unit have conducted a review of the latest claims by Al Jazeera, from a known criminal source, and, from the limited information provided by Al Jazeera, our team have not identified any issues of corruption relating to current or former Australian players.

We have handed all material over to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit to enable them to fully investigate and we will continue to cooperate with the ICC.

It is important to reiterate that Cricket Australia and the ICC take a zero-tolerance approach against anyone trying to compromise the integrity of the game.

We urge Al Jazeera to provide all un-edited materials and any other evidence to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit.

Australian cricket is proactive with its sports integrity management and Cricket Australia’s Integrity Unit oversees and maintains all domestic cricket in Australia, including BBL and WBBL matches.

In addition to this, prior to the start of each Australian season, all professional cricketers are required to participate in thorough anti-corruption education sessions before being eligible to compete in CA’s domestic competitions, concluded Mr Sutherland.

Australian Cricketers’ Association Chief Executive Alistair Nicholson said:

The players have zero tolerance for any behaviour that may impact upon the integrity of the game.

However, enough is enough when it comes to people making unsupported accusations that have the ability to unfairly tarnish players’ reputations.

Whoever is making these allegations should provide all the information they purport to have to the ICC to allow them to assess it.

 

[Saj]

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today launched an appeal to find the one remaining suspected match-fixer from a recent documentary.

The appeal is part of an extensive investigation by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), and the alleged fixer, known as Aneel Munawar, remains unidentified. The programme makers have indicated that this man will now be central to a second documentary.

Alex Marshall, General Manager ICC ACU, said: “We have identified every other person in the original documentary and have spoken to a number of them in connection with match fixing, including those who are not deemed to be participants under our Anti-Corruption Code.

“However the true identity of Aneel Munawar remains a mystery. He plays a significant role in the programme, yet enquiries with law enforcement and immigration sources have not identified or located him.

“As such we are appealing to the public or anyone from within the cricket family to contact us with any information that will lead us to identify and locate him. Police investigations often use such an appeal to locate people of interest and we are exercising the same approach.

“The absence of any cooperation from the broadcaster has slowed the investigation, but to date we have made good progress in identifying people of significant interest including people already of interest to the ACU. We have been able to discount a number of claims made in the programme and continue to pursue other aspects. We will provide a full update at the conclusion of the investigation.

“We are aware that there is a second documentary in the offing, this time based on historical recordings between a fixer, suspected to be Munawar and bookies in India. As with the first programme, we will investigate any claims made in a full and thorough manner and we take any allegations of corruption, historical or contemporary, extremely seriously. Based on what we already know, we have engaged the services of an independent betting analysis company to examine the claims made about particular matches.

“As with the first programme we have, and will continue to ask for the cooperation of the broadcaster. Access to the raw, unedited footage enables us to build a complete picture around the claims in the documentary and ensure our investigation is as fair and thorough as possible.”

 

[Gabbar Singh]

In certain that cricket is still full of fixers (and has been in the past probably more-so) however these “he says she says” investigations are meaningless without proof. You can get an illegal bookie to say anything under the right circumstances.

 

[MenInG]

On the same day that the ICC launched an appeal to help locate the whereabouts of a suspected match-fixer identified in an Al-Jazeera documentary, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials raised a new match-fixing alert after “suspicious individuals” were removed from a domestic Twenty20 match over the weekend.

As reported by AFP on Tuesday, SLC has instructed Sri Lanka cricketers to inform the authorities of any attempt to approach them to fix matches. This comes after suspicious individuals were identified and evicted from an SLC T20 League game in Dambulla on Saturday, which featured two current internationals in Dimuth Karunaratne and Dasun Shanaka.

“They appeared to be from the Indian sub-continent. Their excessive use of mobile phones at the stadium aroused suspicion and they were ordered out,” AFP quoted as SLC official as saying.

In a press release Monday, SLC said that it had stepped up anti-corruption measures at T20 games and team hotels. ”Sri Lanka Cricket has also notified the team managers and the players taking part in the tournament to inform SLC immediately of any approach by suspicious individuals,” the statement said.

Following the Al-Jazeera documentary in May which claimed that match-fixing was rampant, SLC also announced plans for tougher laws against sports corruption and a special police unit to deal with match-fixing.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news...suspicious-activity-following-t20-game-739796

 

[wrongun]

Without any knowledge or proof of the identity of the key figure, Munawar, this is frustrating as it will remain impossible to resolve. He could be serious, or a complete fraud with no connections just trying to bamboozle a dollar from anywhere he can with false claims.

If Al Jazeera are serious they should provide all raw audio & footage to the ICC or appropriate law enforcement to assist. They've had their ratings already.

 

[Junaids]

Don’t forget, there are existing published allegations against Australian players at the 2011 World Cup.

In his (legally approved) bestseller “Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy”, the award winning author Ed Hawkins claims that Australia’s batsmen deliberately played out a low scoring 10 over “bracket” against Zimbabwe on 21 February at Ahmedabad.

He specifically refers to the Aussies scoring 28 runs in 11 overs, and then 53 runs in 15 overs.

I won’t name the batsmen - one of them is a hero of mine.

Anyway, the point is that these allegations are already in the public domain.

 

[Saj]

Should be interesting.

Seems like there are a few skeletons in the cupboard yet to come out.

I recall a former England player saying to me "Aussies and English players are too honest to get involved in any sort of fixing."

 

[Minnowbasher]

Icc won't do anything about it so no point.

 

[MenInG]

https://www.dawn.com/news/1429798/sri-lanka-detains-two-suspected-indian-match-fixers

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan cricket’s anti-corruption unit detained two Indian spectators on suspicion of match-fixing during a domestic Twenty20 league game, officials said on Wednesday.

The men were apprehended after officials spotted them behaving suspiciously and making repeated calls on their mobile phones during the match between Galle and Dambulla at Pallekele, in the island’s central hills.

“We saw suspicious behaviour of the two Indians and ACU (anti-corruption unit) officials handed them over to the police for further investigations,” a Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) official said.

The arrest comes a day after Sri Lanka Cricket issued a new match-fixing alert after a group of spectators were asked to leave another venue after officials suspected them of involvement in attempted match-fixing.

The ongoing T20 tournament features solely Sri Lankan cricketers after plans to emulate the massively lucrative Indian Premier League and attract foreign stars to Sri Lanka fell through.

Authorities say the scaled-down competition is still attracting match-fixers, and have increased the deployment of officials at games and team hotels, while players have been warned to inform the authorities of any attempt to approach them to fix matches.

Sri Lanka has also announced plans for tougher laws against sports corruption and a special police unit to deal with match-fixing following an Al-Jazeera documentary exposing corruption in global cricket in which three Sri Lanka officials were filmed agreeing to sway matches.

 

[silentkiller187]

Apparently English players are now being implicated, number of individuals with one player still active. Lets see how hard the ICC, ACB and ECB work to sweep this under the carpet. If this was an Asian player imagine the furore that would have been created already.

 

[silentkiller187]

English cricket is bracing itself for fresh corruption claims after it emerged that a new investigation into fixing by Al Jazeera will implicate an unknown number of England players — including one who is still active.

Sportsmail revealed three months ago that the broadcasters were planning a follow-up to their first documentary in May, which alleged that England and Australian Test cricketers had fixed brackets in games in India in cahoots with illegal bookmakers.

England Test captain Joe Root described the claims as ‘outrageous’, while Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell said he was ‘shocked’ and ‘hurt’ after he was later linked with the claims.


Cricket Australia have already reacted to Al Jazeera’s latest investigation, which the board says includes ‘spot-fixing claims against current and former Australian players relating to historical matches in 2011’.

Chief executive James Sutherland said CA’s integrity unit had reviewed the investigation and ‘not identified any issues of corruption relating to current or former Australian players’.

Details of any allegations relating to England players remain sketchy, with Al Jazeera remaining tight-lipped ahead of transmission, possibly within the next few weeks. But it is understood a home Test from the past few years will come under the spotlight.



An ECB insider said they were aware that Al Jazeera were looking to make further allegations but that they had heard nothing to make them doubt the integrity of any England player. The insider added that if they received any information, they would pass it to the ICC.

The latest twist in cricket’s battle against corruption comes as the ICC used Twitter to appeal for public help in identifying Aneel Munawar, the suspected match-fixer who featured heavily in Al Jazeera’s initial broadcast. Munawar is understood to work for D Company, the Mumbai crime syndicate which controls illegal betting on the subcontinent.

Sportsmail published photos of Munawar hanging around hotel lobbies during the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. Recordings of conversations between him and bookmakers in India are thought to be central to Al Jazeera’s follow-up.

The ICC also expressed their frustration at Al Jazeera’s refusal to pass on all their material as they seek to get to the bottom of the claims.

Alex Marshall, head of ICC’s anti-corruption unit, is frustrated with Al Jazeera's co-operation +3
Alex Marshall, head of ICC’s anti-corruption unit, is frustrated with Al Jazeera's co-operation

‘The absence of any co-operation from the broadcaster has slowed the investigation,’ said Alex Marshall, the head of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit. ‘But we have made good progress in identifying people of significant interest including people already of interest to the ACU.

‘We have been able to discount a number of claims made in the programme and continue to pursue other aspects.’

Marshall added that his team had used an ‘independent betting analysis company to examine the claims made about particular matches’.

Al Jazeera insist they cannot pass on material while a second programme is in the offing and remain committed to exposing match-fixing in cricket.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...orruption-probe-new-fixing-claims-emerge.html

 

[MenInG]

No names to be mentioned.

 

[silentkiller187]

Not going to look good for England if the rumors flying around today are true. One very prominent cricketer has some explaining to do.

 

[MenInG]

Al Jazeera really needs to do better than this - need names etc - enough allegations.