Statement from Alan Crompton (9 January 1999)

"Between October, 1960 and September, 1997 I was a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and was its Chairman between September, 1992 and September, 1995

09-Jan-1999

9 January 1999

Statement from Alan Crompton

CricInfo365

The following is excerpted from the statement of Alan Crompton submitted to the Lahore High Court hearing in Melbourne today:

"Between October, 1960 and September, 1997 I was a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and was its Chairman between September, 1992 and September, 1995.

On 27th February, 1995, I informed Mr Shane Warne (Mr Warne) that the ACB had decided to impose a fine of $ 8000 following his admission that he accepted $ US 5000 from a bookmaker known to him as "John" in Sri Lanka in September, 1994. The relevant circumstances were:

In mid February, 1995 Mr Graham Halbish, the Chief Executive Officer of the ACB (Mr Halbish) informed me that he was aware of rumours that an Australian player may have had some contact with a bookmaker;

at this time, the Australian team was on tour in New Zealand;

Mr Halbish and I agreed to request Mr Ian McDonald, the Manager of the Australian team in New Zealand (Mr McDonald), to privately interview each member of the Australian team in New Zealand with a view to determining whether any player had been in contact with a bookmaker;

in late February, 1995 Mr Halbish informed me that Mr McDonald had reported to him that his inquiries revealed that two players, namely Mr Warne and Mr Mark Waugh (Mr Waugh) volunteered that they had each accepted sums of money from a bookmaker in Sri Lanka in September, 1994;

I arranged with Mr Halbish to interview the players concerned in Sydney upon their return from New Zealand during a two day stopover before their departure to the West Indies on 28th February, 1995;

my interview of Mr Warne took place in the Sydney Airport Parkroyal Hotel on 27th February, 1995 in the presence of Mr Halbish and Mr McDonald. Mr Warne admitted that he had accepted $ US 5000 from a bookmaker who he knew as "John" in Sri Lanka during the Singer Trophy cricket tournament in September, 1994. He disclosed all relevant matters in relation to his acceptance of that sum and I satisfied myself that his conduct amounted to a breach of his players contract in that it brought the game of cricket into disrepute. I was satisfied with Mr Warne's explanation that he provided only weather and pitch condition information to the bookmaker. Mr Warne was open and co-operative;

following the interview I met with Mr Halbish and Mr McDonald. Mr Halbish and I determined that the appropriate penalty was for Mr Warne to be fined $ A 8000. Mr McDonald played no part in determining the penalty; and

later that day, I met again with Mr Warne in the presence of Mr Halbish and Mr McDonald and I informed Mr Warne of the decision of the ACB to impose the fine. Mr Warne accepted the ACB decision.

On 27th February, 1995 I informed Mr Waugh that the ACB had decided to impose a fine of $ 10,000 following his admission that he accepted $ 6000 (I understood this to be in US dollars) from a bookmaker known to him as "John" in Sri Lanka in September, 1994.

my interview of Mr Waugh took place in the Sydney Airport Parkroyal Hotel on 27th February, 1995 in the presence of Mr Halbish and Mr McDonald. Mr Waugh informed me that he had accepted $ 6000 from a bookmaker who he knew as "John" in Sri Lanka during the Singer Trophy cricket tournament in September, 1994. He disclosed all relevant matters in relation to his acceptance of that sum and I satisfied myself that his conduct amounted to a breach of his players contract in that it brought the game of cricket into disrepute. I was similarly satisfied with Mr Waugh's explanation and his cooperation;

following the interview I met with Mr Halbish and Mr McDonald. Mr Halbish and I determined that the appropriate penalty was for Mr Waugh to be fined $ A 10,000. Mr McDonald played no part in determining the penalty. I determined that this higher fine was appropriate because of Mr Waugh's admission that he had accepted a sum greater than that of Mr Warne and that he had more frequent contact with the bookmaker; and

later that day, I met again with Mr Waugh in the presence of Mr Halbish and Mr McDonald and I informed Mr Waugh of the decision of the ACB to impose the fine. Mr Waugh accepted the ACB decision.

Immediately after informing Mr Warne and Mr Waugh, I informed Mr Jack Edwards (Mr Edwards), an ACB Director, of the imposition of fines on Mr Warne and Mr Waugh for two reasons;

as Team Manager to the West Indies he should be aware in case there were any internal ramifications arising from the action the ACB had taken against the two players; and

the actions of Mr Halbish and myself were to be reported to the ACB Directors' meeting to take place the next day and Mr Edwards would otherwise have been denied the opportunity to register any agreement or disagreement with this action at that meeting because by that time he would have departed with the team.

I also informed Mr Mark Taylor immediately because the action taken involved two members of his team.

On 28th February, 1995 in Sydney I chaired a meeting of the Board of the ACB. The action taken was reported to the ACB with 12 of the 14 Directors present at the time, the absent Directors being Mr Edwards and Mr Bill Jocelyn who had had to leave the meeting early. The action taken by Mr Halbish and myself was approved by the Board. No Director present expressed any disagreement with the action taken, and no Director thereafter, certainly until I ceased to be a Director in September, 1997, expressed any disagreement with the action taken, the penalties imposed, or the fact that the action taken was not made public.

It was my view then and still is that the fines were severe and appropriate in the circumstances. I was satisfied that neither player had engaged in bribery or match fixing. The fines imposed were, to the best of my knowledge, the largest monetary fines ever imposed on any cricket players anywhere in the world, and I believe that that is still the case today.

The ACB policy at the time was that matters of player behaviour and disciplining of players (other than for on-field behaviour) are dealt with privately and internally, and that where penalties are imposed they are imposed privately and internally. The conduct of the players fell into this category and the Board's policy was simply implemented.

In addition, the players were being dealt with under a private contract between the ACB and the player and were considered to have breached that private contract.

My concern on behalf of the ACB was that if, contrary to policy, this matter was made public, the public may wrongly suspect or believe that the players had been guilty of conduct beyond that which has been revealed, which I was totally satisfied was not the case in either instance. Public disclosure in these circumstances would, in my view, have been grossly unfair to the players. This, in my view, was the reason for the Board's policy in the first place.

The ACB did not advise the Pakistan Cricket Board of its actions against Mr Warne and Mr Waugh for the following reasons:

the matter was a separate issue. The matters under investigation by the ACB of Mr Warne and Mr Waugh had nothing to do with the matters under investigation in Pakistan which related to allegations of bribery and match fixing. By way of contrast, the matters under investigation by the ACB of Mr Warne and Mr Waugh concerned acts, which while clearly wrong, had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with bribery or match fixing; and

the matter was considered to be a private matter between the ACB and the players resulting from the breach of private contracts between the ACB and each player."

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