Indian sports promoter denies Fleming claims

Aushim Khetrapal, an Indian sports promoter, has denied that he offered New Zealand's captain Fleming £200,000 (approx US$370,000) to join a match-fixing syndicate during the 1999 World Cup.

Fleming claims in his new book, Balance of Power, that he was approached by Khetrapal in the bar of a hotel in Leicester, and offered the chance to earn "real money" as part of an international betting syndicate. Fleming claims he was offered £200,000 straight away, and a further £100,000 in a year's time, but refused the offer instantly.

But, speaking to the BBC, Khetrapal has denied the claims, adding that he is considering legal action. "My passport shows that I was in England from July 30 until August 3, 1999," he said, "whereas the World Cup was held in June the same year."

Khetrapal is alleged to be an associate of Sanjeev Chawla, the Indian bookmaker whose taped phone-calls with Hansie Cronje blew the lid off the match-fixing scandal in 2000. He does concede that he did meet Fleming, but at a different time, and under very different circumstances.

"I did meet Fleming in a hotel in Leicester where he was playing a county match," Khetrapal, who runs a sports management company in Mumbai, told the BBC. "He said he wanted agents in India and he was offered US$250,000 [£135,000] for modelling assignments. A contract was also signed by him regarding this."