I'll take up Bacher's claims with ICC, reiterates Muthiah

The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) AC Muthiah on Sunday reiterated that the Board would certainly take up the issue of match fixing allegations that have recently surfaced against the Indian cricketers at the International Cricket Council's meeting slated to be held later this month. He said that the UCBSA chief's allegations of match fixing in two World Cup matches involving Asian countries would also be the subject of discussion.

Muthiah was speaking at a press conference at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, soon after being elected president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) for the seventh consecutive term. Muthiah said ``I have already notified the Chief Executive and the President of the ICC about the statements made by Ali Bacher'' and added ``if the members of the international council are privy to such information they should have brought it to the notice of the ICC and could always ask for an enquiry committee.''

The BCCI chief said ``I have notified the International body and now it is up to them to decide the course of action.'' Muthiah was reacting to Bacher's testimony to the King Commission in Cape Town that Majid Khan had earlier revealed to him that two World Cup matches namely the India-Pakistan and Pakistan-Bangladesh games were fixed. Subsequently Majid Khan had said that it was his personal opinion and he did not possess any evidence regarding these allegations.

Muthaih then turned his attention to the allocation of ICC funds to the Asian countries and said that it would be the second important issue in the agenda for representation during the ICC meet. He said ``I would also take up the subject on the allocation of funds to the Asian countries,'' and added ``the ICC received seventy percent of its funds from the Asian sub-continent but hardly twenty percent of this is spent on these countries. We should get at least fifty percent of allocations whereas a large portion of it is now going to the United States and the European countries.''