By HERALD ONLINE STAFF and REUTERS
CAPE TOWN - Sacked South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje admitted in a statement to a government inquiry on Thursday that he took money from bookmakers and tried to get team mates to play badly.
In his statement to the commission, headed by retired Judge Edwin King, Cronje said his cricket career was over. "I have decided to sever my connections with the game and I will not again play cricket at representative level," said Cronje.
"It is time for me to try to repay a part of the enormous debt which I owe to cricket and to try to repair some of the damage which I have caused the game, South Africa, my family and the cricketing public.
"Words cannot begin to describe the shame, humiliation and pain which I feel, in the knowledge that I have inflicted this on others. To my wife, family and team mates in particular, I apologise."
Cronje said the initial denials of his involvement in the match-fixing scandal were untruthful, as were subsequent letters and press statement issued on his instructions.
"I was not honest and I apologise unreservedly," he said.
In his defence Cronje said he could not exaggerate the level of temptation placed in front of a cricketer who is offered money for doing what could easily be presented as furnishing information.
"Once money has been accepted, even for what appears to have been something innocuous, one is compromised and it becomes difficult to turn back," Cronje told the commission
Cronje testified that he had first taken money in 1995 before a game against Pakistan in Cape Town. An Indian or Pakistani man, who called himself John offered Cronje "about $US10,000 for the team to throw the game."
He declined the offer and South Africa won the match.
As the players took the field Cronje was asked by Pakistani captain Salim Malik whether he had spoken to John.
"It was evident to me that he knew about the approach I had received," said Cronje.
On the evening of the third day of South Africa's third test against India at Kanpur, Cronje said he received a call from Mohamad Azhuruddin who called him to hotel room and introduced him to Mukesh Gupta, also known as M K.
"Azhuruddin then departed and left us alone in the room. M K asked if we would give away wickets on the last day of that test to ensure that we lost. He asked me to speak to the other players and gave me approximately $US30,000 in cash to do so. I led him to believe that I would."
Cronje said it seemed an easy way to make money, but that he had "no intention of doing anything. I did not speak to any of the other players and did nothing to influence the match."
"In the event, however, we lost the test. I had effectively received money for doing nothing and I rationalised to myself that this was somehow acceptable because I had not actually done anything," he said
M K later approached Cronje before the final one-day game on the tour and offered him $US200,000 if South Africa would throw the game, which Cronje agreed to do.
After the team rejected the offer Cronje said he telephoned M K and told him the team was not interested, "but asked whether he was prepared to increase his offer to $US300,000. He replied that this was too much, but that he would increase it to $US250,000."
Cronje later telephoned M K to reject the offer and no money changed hands.
When India toured South Africa at the end of 1996-97, M K came to South Africa and asked Cronje to provide information such as team selections and a daily forecast.
During the second test, Cronje told M K the score at which South Africa would declare. After the test, "M K transferred a sum of $US50,000 into my savings account."
Cronje went on to talk of the incident which prompted the Government to set up the commission. He said he received money for match information from a London man known as Sanjay during games during a triangular series with Zimbabwe and Engalnd in South Africa.
Sanjay and another man, Hamid, said Cronje could make "a lot of money" if South Africa would lose a match.
Cronje said he was was not prepared to do so but was handed a cellphone box by Sanjay "containing US dollars in case I changed my mind... about $US10,000, but (it) may have been $US15,000."
"It was not initially my intention to throw any games or to fix results. Driven by greed and stupidity and the lure of easy money, I though that I could feed Sanjay information and keep the money without having to do anything to influence matches.
"In fact, there was no manipulation of games or results in South Africa and I supplied no information in respect of the matches in South Africa."
During South Africa's tour of India in February and March 2000 Sanjay again contacted Cronje and gave him a cellphone so that he could call Cronje for information.
"I initially had no intention of involving other players and thought that I could satisfy Sanjay by accurately forecasting outcomes. Sanjay was not satisfied with this and pressured me to speak to some of the other players to manipulate results," he said.
Cronje said he approached several players but was rebuffed by all, many thought he was joking. He said received no money during the one-day series and said all the games "were a true result."
However on the morning of the fifth one-day match at Nagpur, Sanjay phoned Cronje and urged him to go ahead with fixing the match. Cronje gave in.
"I told him that I would go ahead. I was required to ensure that Gibbs would score less than 20 runs, that Williams would bowl poorly and go for more than 50 runs during his 10 overs and that the total score should be no more than 270 runs. I was to be paid for doing this. I spoke to Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams as described by them in their testimony.
"The fifth one-day international was not fixed or thrown. We not only scored 270 runs, but the total of 320 was South Africa's highest one-day score against India. Whilst this does not detract from what I have done for the game, I do believe that once we set foot on the field, we could not go through with it and did our best," said Cronje.
He was later approached while he was in Dubai for the Sharjah Cup (in March of this year) by Hamid who indicated that Sanjay wished to resume contact with Cronje along the same lines as in India.
"I had by now developed sufficient resolve to put it all behind me and told him that I was not interested."
The commission's hearings were adjourned until Wednesday, when Cronje is expected to be cross-examined.
Cricket: Cronje admits to pocketing bribes
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