ICC anti-corruption team to meet CBI on Tuesday

Onkar Singh

The International Cricket Council anti-corruption team, led by Sir Paul Condon, will meet with CBI officials on Tuesday, at the agency's headquarter in Lodhi Complex.

The team is in Delhi to extensively investigate the involvement of foreign players in the match-fixing scandal, particularly those belonging to Sri Lanka, England and Australia. They will also try to meet Delhi based-bookie Mukesh Gupta, whose statement before the CBI pinned down five top cricketers of India.

"They have got in touch with us and the appointment is tentatively fixed for 11 noon tomorrow. We have had a couple of meetings with the anti-corruption unit of the ICC earlier this month. This meeting is only a follow-up to that one," R N Savani, joint director of the country's premier investigating agency told rediff.com.

Dr K K Paul, joint commissioner of Delhi police, who investigating the Hansie Cronje case, confirmed that Sir Paul Condon had placed a request to visit the police headquarters and hold discussions.

"Seven days back we did receive a call from the ICC headquarters saying that Sir Paul Condon would like to visit us and talk to us regarding Hansie Cronje case. But after that there has been no communication from their end. So it is open to them to visit the Delhi police headquarters. If they want to come they would be welcome," Paul said.

The ICC team is likely to stay in Delhi for four or five days. During their stay they will have a series of meetings with the players who have been interrogated earlier by the CBI and BCCI's vigilance commissioner K Madhavan, and Sports minister Uma Bharti.

The Sports minister's office said that Sir Paul Condon would be calling on the minister on December 14.

Meanwhile, India off-spinner, Nikhil Chopra, whose name figures in the CBI report on match- fixing, will appear before K Madhavan in Delhi on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference after holding discussions with Sir Paul Condon, Madhavan said, "Reasons to examine former coaches Ajit Wadekar and Kapil Dev and current player Nikhil Chopra have not been conveyed to me.

"As Chopra is a current player, I have agreed to examine him on priority basis. I will be submitting my report in two or three days.

Wadekar and Dev would be examined two or three weeks later, he said, adding: "I will be able to attend to it after my autobiography release by Arun Jaitley in Kochi on December 30."

On Kamal Morarka's statements against the CBI, Madhavan said: "I did not attend the disciplinary committee meeting, but his charges against the CBI are untrue and not in good taste."

Mail Cricket Editor