Cronje unlikely to face prosecution

Although Justice Edwin King refuses to discuss the matter ahead of his final report into match-fixing and corruption, it seems unlikely that he will recommend the scrapping of the indemnity against prosecution offered former South African captain Hansie Cronje ahead of his evidence at last June's hearings in Cape Town.

A report in the Sunday Times in London on Sunday claimed that Cronje would have his indemnity revoked upon release of Judge King's final report, expected some time this month, and could face criminal prosecution and possible extradition to India.

Most observers, however, believe this to no more than speculation. United Cricket Board spokesperson Bronwyn Wilkinson said on Sunday that the Judge had no intention of discussing his report before handing it over to the South African government.

The Sunday Times report quotes the King commission's chief investigator Shamila Batohi as saying: "In his interim report, Judge King ruled that Cronje had more to tell, that he had at times contradicted himself and had been evasive. There is no further evidence upon which the judge could change that evaluation.

"Since there's been no way to cross-examine Cronje further, the judge cannot possibly say something totally contradictory in his final report."

At the same time, Judge King did not recommend the scrapping of the indemnity offered Cronje and there seems no reason to believe he will do so now.

The King commission held no further hearings nor called any new witnesses after June last year and its eventual closure earlier this year left a sense of incompleteness. Nevertheless, there was no further opportunity to cross-examine Cronje nor to hear new evidence and on this basis a recommendation that Cronje be prosecuted would come as a surprise.

If Cronje persists in a legal challenge to the life ban imposed on him by the UCB, however, new evidence could emerge. In this case, the South African authorities might have to consider whether Cronje had breached the terms of his indemnity.

There is, however, a broad feeling that the South African government has all but lost interest in match-fixing for the time being and that this lack of political will, as much as anything else, contributed to the unexpected closure of the King commission.