ICC denies Odumbe debt allegations

The ICC has dismissed claims by disgraced former Kenya captain Maurice Odumbe that he has been forced into hiding to avoid debt collectors sent to Nairobi by it to track him down.

"The ICC has issued an arrest warrant through a Nairobi law firm demanding about Sh575,000 (US$7200) from me. I don't have that kind money and I can't understand why ICC can persecute its subjects," Odumbe told FeverPitch.

Odumbe, who was banned for five years for match-fixing in 2004, has previous statements in the local media which have often stretched credulity,

An ICC spokesman told Cricinfo that there was no truth in the allegations. He explained none of the ICC's in-house legal team had been in contact with Odumbe or his representatives. It is not even certain that Odumbe owes any money as his punishment was the ban and not any fine.

"]The ICC has] informed me that no one is chasing you for any money at all and that no one from there has made any call to you demanding any monies," Tim May, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Association, told Odumbe. "They have also informed me that there was no judgement against you to repay any monies by way of a fine or for legal costs incurred by either ICC or KCA."

"I have suffered enough and I should be left alone to lead a normal life," Odumbe, who has not exactly shunned publicity since the ban, said. "It's outrageous that a banned player who lived off the game is expected to raise that kind of money when he had been out of employment for five years."