da esport bet： Probe into charges of match-fixing levelled against England’s stand-incaptain Alec Stewart, West Indies star batsman Brian Lara and otherleading cricketers, are likely to be dropped unless bookie MukeshGupta agrees to provide formal evidence by
19-Jun-2001Probe into charges of match-fixing levelled against England’s stand-incaptain Alec Stewart, West Indies star batsman Brian Lara and otherleading cricketers, are likely to be dropped unless bookie MukeshGupta agrees to provide formal evidence by July 1.ICC’s anti-corruption chief Sir Paul Condon told newsmen in London onMonday that he had issued an ultimatum to Gupta that unless he “letsus know by July 1 that he is willing to co-operate and give evidenceeither in India or outside of India, we must assume that he is notprepared to co-operate further.”A two-member team of the ACU will visit India later this weekreinforcing this message. “Gupta will either agree to be a formalwitness or he won’t. It’s a personal call,” Condon said.The ACU has interviewed Gupta twice and he verbally confirmed all theallegations he made as outlined in the report last year by the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI). These allegations have been denied bythe individual players.However, Condon said Gupta will now have to agree to be a witness inlegal or disciplinary proceedings as his claims were at the core ofevidence in the CBI report.”It was not the only evidence but it was the principal evidence,”Condon said. “Gupta’s evidence is clearly central to the allegations.My concern is that, in addition to repeating the allegations, he hasto stand up and be counted in disciplinary and legal proceedings”.The 39-year old Gupta, who used the alias ‘John’ in many of hisdealings with players, was extensively quoted in the report by CBI. Heclaimed giving up bookmaking in 1998.A former clerk with Syndicate Bank and with a gift for mathematics, hewas so successful as a bookmaker that he was able to buy a house inDelhi’s posh Defence Colony. But he has not been seen since thescandal broke and the tapes of his conversation with Hansie Cronje,former South African cricket captain, were published.