WICB Wants Speedy Lara Bribery Probe
Wed, Jan 23, '02
The West Indies Cricket Board has written to lawyer Elliott Motley requesting he hasten his investigation into star batsman Brian Lara, according to WICB Chief Executive Gregory Shillingford.
The inquiry, set up in April, followed an allegation in a report
published in November 2000 by India's Central Bureau of
Investigation that Lara received $40,000 for playing badly in two
one-day internationals in 1994. He was the only West Indian
cited.
Each national board that had a player mentioned in the report
set up an inquiry. All except the WICB dropped their investigations
when Mukesh Gupta, an unlicensed Delhi-based bookmaker who made
most of the allegations, missed a deadline to corroborate his
evidence in July.
"The board is anxious and keen that Mr. Motley brings closure to
the investigation as it's been going on for quite a long time,"
Shillingford said. "We received an interim report from him
recently, and I don't think there was anything new in there."
Motley was unavailable for comment.
Lara, 32, holds the world record for the highest scores in Test and
first-class cricket with his 375 against England and 501 not out
for Warwickshire against Durham, both in 1994.
On the tour of Sri Lanka in December, he scored 688 runs in a
three-Test series, including three hundreds. However, he fractured
his elbow in a collision with fielder Marvan Atapattu during a
one-day match, and hopes to return to action for the home series
against India starting April.
Shillingford said he understood the delay in the investigation as
Motley is "an eminent" lawyer and his duties take him "to all parts
of the world."
The CBI's investigation initially came to light in 2000 when then
South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was exposed as having fixed
matches. The United Cricket Board of South Africa banned him for
life later that year.
* SOURCE: Bloomberg News.