Cairns unscathed in defamation trial, said judge

Former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi accused Cairns of match-fixing but lost a defamation case. Photo / AP

The perjury charges to be laid against Chris Cairns stem from his 2012 defamation case against Lalit Modi, the former boss of the Indian Premier League, who tweeted that the all-rounder was involved in match-fixing.

Cairns gave evidence and the following extracts are from the judgment of Justice Bean, who awarded him $174,000 in damages and $775,000 in court costs.

• Two payments in 2008 from Vijay Dimon, a Dubai-based diamond trading company, equivalent to $170,000 and $135,000, were suggested to be advance payments for match-fixing. Cairns told the court he was a friend of a senior executive at Vijay Dimon and began working there as his career was drawing to a close.

Justice Bean said: "I accept [Cairns'] evidence that the payments by Vijay Dimon were genuine payments for his services to that company, not the laundering of advance payments for match- fixing."

• Cairns was summoned to a late-night meeting of Indian Cricket League executives at a suite in the Shangri La Hotel in October 2008. He told the court that he was asked about rumours he was involved in match-fixing, which he said were "laughable and completely untrue". Cairns said the mood in the room relaxed, but then the "tone of the conversation changed" when it turned to his fitness. He said his contract was terminated because he did not disclose the extent of his ankle injury, which was made worse by a 1000km charity walk in New Zealand. The ICL then folded.

Howard Beer, an anti-corruption investigator for the ICL, had a different take on the meeting. He said allegations of Cairns' involvement in match-fixing were discussed. "It was put to Chris Cairns that he had used fear tactics with some players in order to persuade them to underperform in certain games and that he promised money or a guarantee of their place in the team for underperforming. He denied this ... When Cairns was defending himself of these allegations, [ICL executive and commentator] Tony Greig reminded Cairns that people could not believe that Hansie Cronje had been involved in match- fixing." After the meeting, Cairns rang Andrew Fitch-Holland, a friend and unofficial legal adviser. According to Fitch-Holland's evidence, Cairns told him his contract had been terminated because he had hidden the true state of his injury, and match-fixing was not mentioned during the conversation.

Justice Bean said: "I do not accept that [Cairns] was directly accused of persuading players to underperform. If he had been, he would have relayed that to Mr Fitch-Holland and sought his advice on that accusation, with its obviously grave potential consequences."

Justice Bean on Melanie Cairns: "Mrs Cairns told me that on the night of the Shangri-La Hotel meeting [Cairns] said he had been dismissed because of his injury. She was also able to provide supporting evidence about his relationship with Vijay Dimon. I accept her evidence as far as it goes, but it is not central to the case."

On Daryl Tuffey: "He has made a witness statement to the effect that he had no reason to suspect Mr Cairns was, nor indeed any of his teammates were, involved in match-fixing or cheating of any kind."

Modi's lawyer, Ronald Thwaites, QC, said Cairns' credibility had not survived the trial and that he had given "incredible evidence" on a number of points.

Justice Bean rejected those submissions: "Despite prolonged, searching and occasionally intrusive questioning about his sporting, financial and personal life he emerged essentially unscathed."

Conclusion: "Mr Modi has singularly failed to provide any reliable evidence that Mr Cairns was involved in match- fixing or spot-fixing, or even that there were strong grounds for suspicion that there was."