Batohi returns, assures Delhi Police of expediting process

Shamila Batohi, chief prosecutor of the King Commission returned home after six days of discussions with Delhi police officials and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Indian capital. The South African team of Batohi and her deputy Geoff Edwards were in India in connection with the probe into the match fixing scandal. Before leaving, they promised to speed up the process in making available records, including those of former South African captain Hansie Cronje's voice samples and details of his financial transactions.

Talking to a news agency, DCP PK Srivastava on Friday said "Chief Prosecutor of the Edwin King Commission Shamila Batohi and Capt Geoff Edwards of the South African Police assured us that they will do their best to expedite the availability of these records to us." He also said that during the discussions with Batohi, Delhi Police reiterated their request for details of Cronje's financial transactions as also the voice samples of the cricketer and South African bookmaker Hamid Cassim Banjo. Talking about Cronje and Hamid, the DCP said "It was reliably learnt that Cronje had purchased a luxury villa at a fancy location at Fahrancourt in South Africa. Our investigations show that Hamid had played a very important role in the match-fixing case."

With legal hurdles coming in the way of the tapes which contain Cronje's conversation with an alleged bookie, Srivastava said "since legal procedures were involved in handing them over to the South Africans, the gist of the transcript which was recorded in the First Information Report in the case was explained to them."

Talking to India Abroad News Service before leaving on Friday, Batohi said "It was a fruitful exercise. I think both sides benefited. The Delhi Police is happy that I came here as they realized that it was beneficial for both parties. As we worked together, we were able to assist each other to get to the bottom of the scandal."

Batohi said "I knew when I came here that I would not be able to get the tape recordings. But I had thought that I might get a copy (of the tape) or an authenticated transcript of the recordings. I have got transcripts of a portion of the tape recording which seems to be relevant to our investigations. I don't know whether it would be sufficient or not. I expect it to be."

On the Delhi police request for voice samples, Batohi said "We will try to help the Delhi Police to get a voice sample of Cronje through legal and diplomatic channels.''

Meanwhile, in Johannesburg, a spokesman for South African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Friday that authenticated transcripts of the tapes had been released to Batohi. The King Commission is expected to resume its sitting on October 2.