‘CSA thoroughly considered all the relevant factors and determined that a lengthy ban was appropriate, ‘ Lorgat said. Although it was not clear at the time, it emerged months later that Hansie Cronje, South Africa’s captain, had taken a bribe to ensure a Test match against England had a positive result.
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There was also no comment from the Hawks, the specialist unit of the South African police that investigates serious commercial crime, including match-fixing allegations.
“Of late, with a family to feed and no serious income from playing cricket, Bodi had resorted to trying to sell real estate overseas, including Dubai and India as an agent, which might have put him in contact with the match-fixing cartels there”, added the friend.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Mbalula praised the CSA for its swift action: The disdain with which Cricket South Africa has shown against those self-seeking elements within the code whose motives are to exploit the most vulnerable athletes and thereby corrupting this lovely game is commendable.
His actions have found condemnation from several former South African greats, including Makhaya Ntini, who said that those involved in the scandal were hurting their family aside from themselves with their participation in such murky issues.
The 37-year-old, who made two one-day global and one Twenty20 appearance for the Proteas, had been given until January 18 to respond to the charges.
He played in a single Twenty20 worldwide against the West Indies in December of the same year and was a member of South Africa’s squad for the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007, although he did not play in a game.
“Our attitude to corruption will always be one of zero tolerance”, Lorgat said. “We expect that that Mr Bodi himself will learn and will actively assist us in reminding players of the dangers of corrupt behaviour”, said Mr Lorgat.
Lorgat blamed the press for complicating CSA’s investigation in recent weeks and flatly refused to confirm whether names mentioned here in recent weeks were involved in the investigation.
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“There are no winners in this ill fated and unfortunate matter however all of us in the cricket community must learn from these experiences and remain vigilant”.
