The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday came to a conclusion on its investigation into the documentary program ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’ broadcasted by Al Jazeera in May 2018. The ICC Anti-Corruption Code didn’t apply any charges against any of the five participants, who featured in the documentary and alleged that two international matches were fixed.
ICC released a statement, which reads “No charges will be bought under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code against any of the five Participants to the Code who featured in the programme due to insufficient credible and reliable evidence.”
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The documentary was released three years ago and sensationalized the cricketing fraternity with severe allegations of match-fixing. The match under the scanner was Chennai Test between India and England in 2016 and Ranchi Test featuring India and Australia in 2017.
The ICC Integrity Unit interviewed all five participants of the documentary and came to a decision to apply no charges as there was insufficient evidence.
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity said: “We welcome the reporting of alleged corrupt activity within cricket as there is no place for such conduct in our sport, but we also need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges against Participants.
“In the case of the claims aired in this programme, there are fundamental weaknesses in each of the areas we have investigated that make the claims unlikely and lacking in credibility, a viewpoint that has been corroborated by four independent experts.”
He further went on to add “On the basis of the programme, the Participants to the Code who were filmed appear to have behaved in a questionable manner, however, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the Participants claim actually happened. This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.”
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He said before concluding “Should any new substantial evidence come to light I will re-examine the case. But at present, I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken.”
