The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Marlon Samuels faces probe

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Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
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Marlon Samuels faces probe

ICC has asked the West Indies board to take up the issue
Samuels was allowed to play in the World Cup

NEW DELHI: West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels will face an investigation by the national board over alleged links with a bookmaker during a one-day tour of India in January.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement on Wednesday an investigation by its anti-corruption officials had found sufficient grounds to ask the West Indies board to probe the issue further and report back by the end of January.

Samuels, 26, was allowed to play in the World Cup in the Caribbean earlier this year.

The investigation followed an Indian police report that the Jamaican player allegedly passed on confidential team information to a bookmaker on the eve of the first one-dayer in Nagpur on January 21.

Report reviewed

The anti-corruption unit’s report was reviewed by code of conduct commission chairman Michael Beloff and forwarded to the board, which concluded its two-day meeting in Dubai on Wednesday.

The West Indies board would submit its report to an official enquiry, comprising Beloff and two other code of conduct panel members not connected with the Caribbean board, the ICC said.

That panel would review the report, including any sanction recommended by the West Indies probe, before the matter again goes before the ICC board.

Nagpur police officials said they had taped alleged telephone conversations between Samuels and a bookmaker. The city’s police chief SPS Yadav said they had no proof of any illegal monetary transaction or of match-fixing.

An ICC team then met the Nagpur police to begin its own probe.

India won in Nagpur by 14 runs and the four-match series 3-1. Samuels took none for 53 and scored 40 runs in that game.

Corruption rocked cricket in 2000 after several prominent players were named in an Indian federal police investigation.

Earlier that year, Delhi police broke a match-fixing scandal that led to a life ban for the late Hansie Cronje, then South Africa captain. — Reuters

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