Anti-Corruption Unit meet CBI officials in Delhi

The presence of two members of the Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACU) of the ICC in New Delhi and their "unofficial" meetings with their counterparts from the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's premier investigative agency, has led to speculation about match-fixing.

Indian newspapers and television channels have even suggested that the recently concluded tri-series involving India, New Zealand and Zimbabwe is one of the tournaments under the scanner.

An ICC spokesman confirmed that the the ACU team were in India but refused to comment on the nature of their visit. "It is routine for the ACU officials to visit member countries, however it is organisational policy not to speak about any ongoing investigations," he said.

Ranbir Singh Mahendra, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, claimed he was unaware of the presence of any ACU official in New Delhi. "As regards the visit of two ICC officials, I want to make it clear the Board has no information about their visit," he said. "They have not got in touch with us, so the question of our establishing contact with them therefore, does not arise. I am only reading about it in newspapers and seeing on television."

Mahendra also clarified that no inquiry would be initiated at the moment. "In the past we have shown that we are the only cricket board in the world which has taken action. However, till there is any substance or something credible, initiating any action is not possible. As of now, we are not going to initiate any inquiry as we have not received any complaint from anywhere."

Jagmohan Dalmiya, former BCCI president, also said he did not have any information about the visit of the two ACU officials to Delhi, but if indeed they had come down, it was a welcome move.

"Everybody should welcome it. We have nothing to object. If cricket stands to benefit, then it is good," Dalmiya, also a former president of ICC, said on the sidelines of a BCCI meeting.

Speculation about the renewed threat of match-fixing has been rife in the Indian media following the ongoing interrogation by the Mumbai police of an inordinately wealthy bar dancer who is suspected to have been a conduit between the betting syndicates and leading cricketers from various countries.

According to the Times of India the ACU officials, Martin Hawkins and Allan Peacock, will also enquire if the delay of start of play by almost an hour in the one-day international involving India and Pakistan in Ahmedabad last April was deliberate.