Cricket: Match-fixing report alleges bribery corruption and murder

LONDON - Sir Paul Condon's investigation into international cricket match-fixing has uncovered allegations of murder, kidnapping and intimidation.

Tonight (NZ time), a year after being appointed by the International Cricket Council to look into corruption in the sport, Lord Condon will unveil his first report into the investigation many in sport thought they would never see: an inquiry into cheating and greed in the game supposedly played by gentlemen.

Lord Condon's report is believed to say: "I have spoken to people who have been threatened and others who have alleged a murder and a kidnapping linked to cricket corruption."

Ashraf Patel, 40, a successful Indian gem dealer and businessman with distribution rights to brands such as Cartier and Tissot was shot in a Bombay street, possibly because of his love of betting on cricket.

Condon's 80-page report is not expected to be a bombshell exposé of individuals or incidents.

It is said to name no one, for legal reasons, but it does highlight concerns that match-fixing continues.

His report will not even say whether the alleged murder did, indeed, involve Mr Patel or other suspected victims in South Africa and India.

Lord Condon believes the root of match-fixing can be found in English county cricket dating back 30 years.

"It has been suggested to me that the seeds of corruption in cricket were sown in the seventies when county and club games in domestic tournaments in England and other countries were allegedly fixed by teams to secure points and league positions," he is understood to say.

Lord Condon has warned players they can run but they cannot hide, so more may yet emerge.

His report adds, "a more insidious and corrosive form of fixing had taken hold on the game" and "there are indications that some players and others are still acting dishonestly and to the order of the bookies".

Lord Condon was appointed head of a new seven-man anti-corruption unit dedicated to weeding out cheating and setting in place mechanisms to prevent it after the banning for life of South African captain Hanse Cronje who admitted that he took four bribes to fix matches.

But his task is enormous. There have been claims and counter-claims of cheating, bribing and fixing in eight of the 10 test-playing nations including England, India, Pakistan, Australia and South Africa.

Lord Condon is said to recommend increasing players' wages ­- adequate in countries such as England, Australia and New Zealand, but poor in Asia -­ to make corruption less attractive.

The rewards for Asian syndicates who try to rig games are understood to be huge, although the amounts players claim they have been offered seem suspiciously low, usually only about £5,000 ($16,800) which suggests larger amounts may not have been disclosed.

- INDEPENDENT