Concern over delay in Commission's visit to India

The interim report of the match-fixing scandal has been made public by the South African Government in Johannesburg on Friday. The King Commission has expressed concern over the delay in receiving a positive reply from the Indian authorities for their two member team to visit India. The commission spokesman John Bacon said the delay will not give enough time for the team to question people in India in connection with the "Hansiegate" scandal.

Commission spokesman Bacon said to IANS in Johannesburg on Thursday that the two were ready to leave for India and if there was no written response by the end of this week, the Commission would follow up the issue telephonically. Bacon said "Time is running out for proper investigations, as the team was expected to be back in South Africa by September 15 to prepare for the resumption of hearings on October 2."

On the request to Indian authorities, Bacon said "We have not had a response yet from India on our request for appointments for leader of evidence Shamila Batohi and investigator Geoff Edwards to investigate the allegations by Indian police of collusion by South African cricketers in match-fixing." Batohi and her assistant Edwards were supposed to come to India for a talk with various agencies investigating the match-fixing scam in India.

Meanwhile, former South African captain Hansie Cronje in an interview to a South African TV requested that batsman Herschelle Gibbs be given another chance to play international cricket. Cronje said "In my opinion Herschelle did nothing wrong." He added that he felt particularly responsible for the predicament in which Gibbs now finds himself.

The interim report which is to be made public has no surprises said South African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour. International Cricket Council president David Richards and United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) chief Ali Bacher were handed over a copy of the report. Richards said to reporters in Johannesburg that he was "very hurt and upset about all these allegations about South African cricket. It is very important to now go through the process and clean the game up."

Richards said "I must congratulate the South African cricket board and the government on the action they have taken and the investigators will co-operate with them." He added that a team of four or five investigators based in London will help the King Commission to root out corruption in the game by passing on all the relevant information they had.

On a final note, Balfour said the Commission will have their second sitting from October 2 for two weeks. "We are pressing hard for the final report to be completed in November. We will assist them in any way possible to make sure it happens," he added.