Cricket probe lost in translation
Investigations into a cricket match fixing scam in 2000 are being delayed in India due to the inability of police to find a translator who can work in Afrikaans.
In 2000, police in New Delhi had filed a case against Proteas cricketers, including then captain Hansie Cronje and various middlemen for allegedly accepting money to influence the outcome of matches.
But the Hindustan Times have reported the investigations have stalled due to the inability to find a translator.
“We have approached the South African High Commission and also Jawaharlal Nehru University, but failed to find a translator,” an unnamed official of the police’s elite Crime Branch said.
Crime Branch joint police commissioner Ranjit Narayan, who on Thursday questioned batsman Herschelle Gibbs over the scandal, said police were still looking for someone to decipher the conversations.
Gibbs has admitted he accepted a bribe from Cronje to score fewer than 20 runs against India in a one day international during their 2000 tour.
The batsmen subsequently scored 74 runs and said he had “forgotten” about the deal, but he was still suspended and fined.
He had previously refused to tour India after failing to obtain assurances he would not be obtained.
Cronje was also found guilty of involvement and was served with a life ban before dying in a plane crash in 2002.