JOHANNESBURG: Former Test seam bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe was charged on Monday with conspiring to fix matches in a 2015 Twenty20 tournament, the fourth ex-South Africa international implicated in corruption in the long-running investigation.

Tsotsobe, a left-arm seamer who played five Tests and 61 One-day Internationals, faces charges under its anti-corruption code, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said.

They include conspiring to fix games, seeking bribes, failing to disclose an improper payment or gift, and failing to report an approach by match-fixers.

The 33-year-old Tsotsobe was provisionally suspended from taking part in any official cricket, although he hasn’t played any top-level games for more than a year.

Tsotsobe is the seventh player and fourth former international implicated in the investigation into attempted fixing in the 2015 Ram Slam tournament.

Former South African Test players Alviro Petersen and Thami Tsolekile were already banned for two and 12 years respectively. Former limited-overs international Gulam Bodi was banned for 20 years after being identified as the go-between who approached players on behalf of the fixers.

CSA previously said they don’t think any games were ultimately fixed or influenced, although it couldn’t be certain.

Three other domestic players received bans of seven to 10 years in a case that has taken nearly two years to fully unfold and it may not be over yet and which has revived uncomfortable memories of South Africa’s Hansie Cronje scandal.

Cronje, the country’s immensely popular national cricket captain, was found guilty of match-fixing and banned for life in 2000. He died in a plane crash in 2002 at the age of 32.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017