Lara cleared of match-fixing
West Indies' leading batsman Brian Lara has been cleared of involvement in match-fixing following an investigation, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said on Monday.
The investigation followed an Indian criminal report saying that a bookmaker had offered or paid money to nine non-Indian players including Lara.
Lara always denied the allegations.
"The investigation carried out by prominent Barbadian attorney-at-law Elliott Mottley found no evidence in support of the allegations made against Lara contained in the Report of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations of India on Cricket Match Fixing and Related Malpractices, dated November 2, 2000," WICB said in a statement.
"Mr Mottley's investigation on behalf of the West Indies Cricket Board has indicated that the allegations made against Brian were unfounded and not supported by any evidence," the statement quoted WICB president Wes Hall as saying.
"We now consider that this matter is hereby officially closed...We wrote to Brian's lawyers informing them that the matter is officially closed and that the allegations made against him were unfounded," Hall said.
He added that the WICB has submitted the report to the International Cricket Council.
Several prominent cricketers including then South African captain Hansie Cronje and India captain Mohammad Azharuddin were found guilty of match-fixing and banned from the game following the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation report.
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