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King Commission inquiry postponed
AC Ganesh - 2 October 2000
The King Commission inquiry, going into the match-fixing scandal in
South Africa, has been delayed. The commission's second sitting, which
was to have commenced in Cape Town today, has been postponed
indefinitely. An official said "The King Commission inquiry into
corruption in South African cricket, due to resume Monday, was
postponed to allow the state prosecutor to sift through evidence
obtained in India."
Commission secretary John Bacon said "State prosecutor Shamila Batohi
was due to have talks in Cape Town Monday aimed at setting a date for
the resumption of the inquiry. It was hoped the hearings would resume
next week but he conceded that logistical problems could lead to a
further delay of about a week," according to a report in India Abroad
News Service. Bacon added that the evidence collected during Batohi's
recent visit to India had to be gone through and the work pressure had
not allowed the prosecutor to give her feedback to Judge Edwin King.
Therefore the commission would resume hearings 'sometime in October'.
Batohi who received the transcripts of Hansie Cronje's telephonic
conversation with an alleged bookie is expected to discuss the
evidence obtained during her visit with members of the Commission.
Batohi, along with her assistant Geoff Edwards, have gathered some
material after holding talks with the Delhi Police and the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials in India. Batohi and the South
African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour had earlier hinted that they
were excited about the evidence, but refused to give any details.
Batohi returned home on September 23 after a week long discussion with
Indian officials. Before leaving, they promised to speed up the
process in making available records, including those of Cronje's voice
samples and details of his financial transactions. Legal hurdles came
in the way of copies of the tapes which Batohi wanted for the
commission as they were in the possession of the High Court.
© CricInfo
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