CBI says it stands by its report

Onkar Singh

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which conducted an inquiry into allegations of match-fixing in Indian cricket and subsequently submitted a comprehensive report The CBI in its report criticised the functioning of the BCCI and held it responsible for not acting in time to prevent match-fixing in the game. The BCCI however objected to the findings and asked the sports minister to give it some time so that a point by point rebuttal to the charges could be made. The board even released a 56-page report pointing out what it said are glaring discrepancies in the CBI report.

"We have seen the report and we stand by the figures quoted by us in our report, particularly those which have been disputed by the BCCI in its leaflet. We had quoted the figures from the annual report of the BCCI which was made available to us by the secretary of the board through post. Though the report reached us after we had submitted our findings but there was no discrepancy in our figures because they tallied with the figures mentioned in the annual report.

"We had said that the total guarantee money received by the board was to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore, whereas the board in its leaflet has claimed that the money was Rs 10.50 crore. In our report we are talking of just the guarantee money whereas the board in its figures has included the money received from the sponsors of logo, net profit etc. As far as we are concerned we stand by the report and the figures given by us.

"As regards the comments made by some individuals about the CBI and whether we were right in our judgement while passing comments about transparency in the board's functioning etc, we would not like to join issues with the BCCI because these comments are subjective in nature and can vary from individual to individual," a top official of the agency told rediff.com.

When asked to comment specifically on the statements of BCCI vice-president Kamal Morarka, that the CBI is more corrupt than corruption in the game, and the CBI report reads like a prostitute's diary, the official said the first comment was an "unfortunate statement". He however refused to say anything about the second statement saying that he would not like to stoop so low on the matter.

Sources in the CBI confirmed that a three-member investigating team of the International Cricket Council had visited the agency's headquarters in Delhi on Monday and held discussions with some officials vis-a-vis the involvement of foreign players in the match-fixing episode.

"They were here with us for more than an hour-and-half and discussed the involvement of foreign players. We told them whatever we knew about it," said the source.

Mail Cricket Editor