SYDNEY: The Al Jazeera TV news channel is planning a follow-up documentary about alleged corruption in cricket, Australian and global cricket chiefs revealed today, appealing for access to unedited footage to properly investigate the claims.
The Qatar-based broadcaster made a series of spot-fixing allegations in a first documentary entitled “Cricket’s Match-Fixers” earlier this year involving unidentified current and former players. In that programme, Al Jazeera made contact with an Indian-based member of what it described as a fixing syndicate said to be linked to the notorious D Company crime gang. “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,” said Marshall, head of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit. “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.” He urged Al Jazeera to hand over its evidence. “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,” he said.
After the original documentary, the ICC launched a probe into the claims and said it had identified everyone involved except Munawar. It appealed today to the cricket community to help track him down. “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,” said Marshall. (AFP)
