February 1, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 28, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Indian police, who accused late South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje of fixing matches in 2000, have warned cheats are still active in South Africa ahead of the World Cup.

India’s key investigator, who trapped Cronje, also said South Africa had offered little cooperation to help Delhi police pursue the case which exposed the murky side of the cricketing world.

The warning from Delhi Police Special Commissioner K.K. Paul came amid rising worries in domestic security circles that the eruption of large-scale illegal betting in India could prompt rigging of some Cup matches.

The ICC last month claimed the quadrennial event would be corruption-free.

“The match-fixing case is very much alive because there are other people involved apart from Hansie Cronje,” Paul said, as his Crime Branch police detectives warned that bookmakers could try their luck during the World Cup.

“There is (restaurateur) Hamid Qasim Banjo and don’t forget there are more people who were helping out in match-fixing. Banjo is very much there and so are the other such people in South Africa,” said Paul.

“The gambling mafia is active and World Cup cannot be held without match-fixing,” said Sarfraz Nawaz a former Pakistan Test cricketer, who played 55 Tests and 45 One-day Internationals.—AFP