Corruption commission to weed out match-fixers

``We certainly have a serious problem on our hands,'' the chief executive of the sport's governing body, David Richards, said of allegations of bribery and betting that have bedevilled cricket for the last four years.

But he insisted the executive board did not consider match-fixing was rampant despite investigations into betting in India, Pakistan and Australia.

``The view of the board is that this is not rampant throughout the game,'' he said.

A three-man Code of Conduct Commission, to be set up by February 28, will be empowered to tell national cricket boards to dig out the truth.

``If the ICC is not satisfied with the outcome of any review the Commission would have the authority to carry out its own review and apply sentences,'' Richards said.

``Any person found guilty of match-fixing can expect to be put out of the game for a very long period, if not altogether,'' he added.

He denied the ICC had won a power struggle with national cricket boards.

``We have been unfairly criticised in the past for being a toothless tiger. In 1999 there is now a recognition the ICC has a role to play to ensure each of the cricket boards exercise its sovereign rights in a uniform manner and in the interests of world cricket,'' he said.

He described the new relationship between national cricket boards and the ICC as a partnership.

He said the nine Test-playing countries represented at the ICC executive board meeting had unanimously approved the move.

``This was an historic meeting. We have taken a very, very positive step forward,'' he added.

The ICC expected to receive full reports into betting inquiries in Pakistan, Australia and India by the end of May.

``We'd like to resolve these matters fairly quickly to restore the dignity and harmony of cricket,'' Richards said.

He said the ICC could reopen the inquiry into former Pakistan captains Wasim Akram and Salim Malik, Ejaz Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmed and Waqar Younis if unsatisfied with the Pakistan government-appointed judicial commission finding.

Malik was accused by Australian players Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May of offering them 200,000 US dollars to throw a match four years ago. Warne and Waugh admitted publicly last month, however, they had taken money from an Indian bookmaker in 1994.

Pakistan judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum has adjourned his hearing till January 16 while he hears from representatives who cross-examined Warne and Mark Waugh in Melbourne last Friday and Saturday.

Warne and Waugh blotted their copybook when the Australian Cricket Board was forced to admit last month they had been fined for taking 11,000 US dollars from an Indian bookmaker for pitch and weather information.

Richards said he did not expect any further action over Warne and Mark Waugh.

``My general feeling is you can't be tried twice for the same crime,'' he said.

As a general rule each national cricket board will run its own inquiry into allegations of match-fixing by setting up an independent judicial process whose structure and composition must be approved by the ICC.

All findings must be submitted to the ICC Code of Conduct Commission which can ratify the findings, recommend the penalty be increased, ask for a review of any issue, or quite simply carry out its own investigation with the power to impose binding penalties.

The ICC commission also gives whistle-blowers the opportunity to have allegations investigated.

``If anyone was uncomfortable about going to his own cricket board with any allegations they could come to the ICC commission,'' Richards said.

``It has been very frustrating these last four years because we have heard a lot of allegations without any proof,'' he added.

The penalties for match-fixing and bribery will be decided at the ICC's Annual Conference on June 23-24.

Australian Cricket Board president Denis Rogers welcomed the move. ``We are delighted with the outcome,'' he said.

But he also stressed the consensus was that match-fixing was not rife. ``We do not regard it as being epidemic,'' he said.