Cronje offered immunity

An offer of immunity from criminal prosecution made to Hansie Cronje will not preclude the United Cricket Board for taking disciplinary action against the former captain, a UCB spokesperson said on Saturday.

Cronje's lawyers are considering the offer made by the South African directorate of public prosecutions, which is conditional on Cronje telling the King commission the entire truth about the match-fixing scandal as he knows it. A similar offer was accepted by Herschelle Gibbs during the first week of the hearings and led to Gibbs telling the commission of approaches made to him and Henry Williams by Cronje.

"We are aware of the offer," said UCB communications officer Bronwyn Wilkinson on Saturday. "It has nothing to do with the UCB. It is a matter between the government and Mr Cronje. The UCB has said all along that we want the truth to come out. How that happens is in the hands of the commission. This offer does not preclude the UCB from taking its own disciplinary action against anyone involved in match-fixing or corruption. The UCB's intention has always been to await the findings and recommendations of Justice King's commission and then take whatever action is deemed necessary in terms of our own disciplinary procedures and the International Cricket Council's code of conduct." It is now understood that if Cronje accepts this offer he may give his evidence to the commission this coming Wednesday. Until now Cronje's lawyers have striven to keep him off the witness stand until the end of the hearings in order that he would have heard the allegations and evidence levelled against him.

The UCB's first action in terms of evidence emerging at the commission has been to omit Gibbs from the South African team to tour Sri Lanka next month. Gibbs, however, is still being remunerated in terms of his contract with the UCB and it is certain that at some point he will have to face a UCB disciplinary hearing.