Cronje expected to spill more beans

Cronje is to be cross-examined from Tuesday.

Contrary to media reports, cronje has not been granted immunity from prosecution. The immunity is subject to the commission being satisfied that he has told the truth. But even that does not apply in India.

The immunity is fully in the hands of Judge Edwin King who told the former captain at the beginning of his deposition: “I want you to give a full and complete disclosure of match-fixing and related matters of which you are aware.

“Don’t wait for questions to be asked of you. You volunteer that information,” Judge King said.

No questions were asked from Cronje after he read out his statement running into more than 20 pages on Thursday last. His deposition has left many questions to which the answers may be sought during the cross-examination.

For instance, the South African newspaper Natal Mercury pointed out that Cronje “is going to have to produce some extremely concvincing answers as to why Mr Mukesh Gupta, commonly known as MK, disappeared as quickly from his life as he came into it.” (PTI)

Vaidya denies

NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketer Prashant Vaidya denied on Monday to CBI that he was a witness to any commotion over Kapil Dev’s offer to manoj Prabhakar in 1994.

“I have denied the statement made by Prabhakar and I have nothing to do with match-fixing…I have not been witness to any commotion between the two players,” Vaidya told reporters after deposing before the CBI for over two hours.

Vaidya, who arrived at the CBI headquarters around noon, was questioned by the Special Crime Branch over his statement made on a video tape, secretly filmed by Prabhakar.

Asked about his conversation with Prabhakar on the videotapes, Vaidya said “I am not aware of having said any such thing.”

However, he replied in the negative when asked by reporters whether he was planning to sue Prabhakar for defamation.

In a related development, the Income Tax (IT) department have began investigations into records and returns of leading cricketers and officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in india (BCCI) whose names surfaced during the on-going match-fixing controversy, IT sources said.

Naidu flays Azhar

VIJAYAWADA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday it was unfortunate that former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin had remarked that he was being dragged into the match-fixing controversy as he was from a minority community.

He told newsmen here that Azharuddin, a great cricketer admired by one and all, was included in the team and later made the captain not on the basis of his religion or community but because of his performance on the field.

Making it clear that he was not questioning the credentials of Azharuddin, he said it was not fair to give a communal colour when some allegations were made against the cricketer who, however should be given sufficient time to prove his innocence.