Australia sets date for its own inquiry into bribes
AFP
23 December 1998
Australian Test stars Shane Warne and Mark Waugh will give
evidence to a Pakistan judicial inquiry into bribery allegations
here next month, just days before a domestic probe into illegal
betting activities.
Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive Malcolm Speed said
Wednesday the Lahore-based court would sit in Melbourne on
January 8.
It will question Waugh, Warne and former ACB chairman Alan
Crompton.
The court wanted to hear from Warne and Waugh after they admitted
contact with an illegal Indian bookmaker during Australia's tour
of Sri Lanka in 1994.
The pair, who say former Pakistan captain Salim Malik tried to
bribe them to throw a match, revealed earlier this month that
they took 11,000 dollars (6,600 US) from a bookmaker for
information about the weather and state the pitch.
Crompton was team manager at the time.
The Australian players were fined by the ACB soon after they took
the money but the Board kept the incident secret, sparking claims
of a cover-up.
Neither Waugh nor Warne had been keen on returning to Pakistan to
give further evidence.
Speed also announced Wednesday that an independent Australian
inquiry into the effect of gambling on cricket would begin on
January 12, although preliminary interviews will start on January
4.
The probe, to be headed by Queensland lawyer Rob O'Regan, will
last for three weeks with the report made public at the end of
February.
O'Regan said the inquiry would be held in private as that was the
best way to achieve results.
The ACB made the move after another Australian Test batsman,
Ricky Ponting, dropped for the upcoming fourth Ashes Test against
England, said last week a Sydney bookmaker offered him money a
year ago for information about pitch conditions.
Former Australian Test player Dean Jones has also told of
refusing to deal with a bookmaker on the subcontinent in 1992.
Jones has already stated his desire to give testimony to the ACB
inquiry.
Two other former Test players, Australian Greg Matthews and New
Zealander Danny Morrison, were also approached by bookmakers.
O'Regan said he wanted to interview all Australian cricketers
since 1992 and also former ACB officials about any involvement
with gambling on the sport.
While his inquiry has no power to force anyone to give evidence,
O'Regan said he expected cooperation because former cricketers
risked a tarnished image if they did not agree to interviews.
``It has no compulsory powers but that doesn't mean it can't do
its job effectively,'' he said. ``I expect people will cooperate;
it will look pretty odd if they don't.
``We can't summon them, we can't require them to produce records
... we can exhort them to appear and apply a bit of friendly
persuasion.
``It will be a private inquiry not for any sinister reason but
simply because in my view, based on some experience, that is the
best way at arriving at the truth.''
His investigation will begin as cricket's international hierarchy
finally tackles the previously taboo topic of gambling.
The O'Regan inquiry should be one of three probes into cricket's
most vexed issue, with the International Cricket Council likely
to launch its own inquiry into gambling on cricket at a meeting
in Christchurch next month.
Speed said he hoped O'Regan's inquiry would not only put an end
to the betting saga but repair Australia's damaged cricket
reputation.
``I've said a number of times Australian cricket has a very high
reputation but, yes, it has been damaged and it's incumbent on
those of us administering cricket at the moment to rectify that
damage,'' he said.
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