Cricket: ICC tackling crooks with wet flannels

By RICHARD BOOCK

Crooks and fraudsters will be shaking in their boots this morning as the International Cricket Council prepare to reveal their new, wide-ranging, no-nonsense initiative against corruption ... that is to say, er, another committee.

After a day in which the ICC's executive board spent most of their time placing themselves - and especially their president - above suspicion, it appears the emergency meeting in London will end this morning with little more than the announcement of a new investigative panel.

Convened after last month's sacking of South African captain Hansie Cronje in a money-for-information scandal, the meeting started unusually when all 18 executive members gave written assurances they had no financial interest in the game other than those already declared.

Their declarations gave the ICC power to probe the business or private financial records of any member, and also provided the world body with a mandate to begin their anti-corruption campaign - safe in the knowledge that their own backyard was very much open to scrutiny.

"It is necessary that we [the ICC] should demonstrate to the cricketing world that we come to these problems without any undeclared personal financial interests in the game," England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Lord MacLaurin said.

Lord MacLaurin believed the declarations and the willingness of the delegates to open their accounts for investigation would help to restore the public's confidence in the ICC after weeks of allegations and finger-pointing.

ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya has begun defamation proceedings against Arun Aggarwal, an Indian financial adviser who recently alleged that Dalmiya abused his ICC position when negotiating telecast rights for its 1998 knockout tournament.

A fortnight ago, his predecessor as the Indian board president, Inderjit Singh Bindra, told a press conference that Dalmiya was "in the grip of the Mafia and sharks."

But ICC chief executive David Richards confirmed yesterday that Dalmiya had neither played a part in the TV contract negotiations nor influenced the outcome.

Richards said there were four bidders for the tournament's television contract - Doordarshan, TWI, World Tel and CSI.

"They all made a buy-out tender, which meant they were bidding for the total rights to the competition," he said.

"The bids were opened by myself and Ehsan Mani - ICC chairman of finance and marketing - in the presence of a Notary Public.

"The top two bidders, Doordarshan and TWI, were invited to re-bid on a 'share of revenue' basis, and again this was done in writing. The revised bid of Doordarshan, which was the highest, was accepted and I signed the contract."

The statement will come as some relief for Dalmiya who claimed that his "reputation had been injured and harmed by the conspiracy against him."

Bindra, meanwhile, has arrived in London hoping to air his corruption allegations at Lord's. Instead, the delegates agreed let him submit his evidence on match-fixing to the ICC's lawyers.

Richards later reiterated the ICC's determination to rid the game of corruption, but at the same time expressed frustration at the lack of binding proof.

"One of the great frustrations over the past couple of years has been the lack of hard evidence regarding match-fixing, bribery and corruption," he said. "Anyone who has any information should bring it forward."

British newspapers, meanwhile, cast doubt on the chances of any genuine action resulting from the meeting, with most speculation involving the establishment of some sort of flying-squad or rapid-action-force, which would investigate irregularities.