Ex-SA player Bodi banned 20 yrs for fixing

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CENTURION, South Africa, Jan 25, (AP): Former South Africa batsman Gulam Bodi has been banned for 20 years by his country’s cricket board after he admitted that he was planning to fix matches in a domestic Twenty20 competition.

Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat announced the sanction on Monday. Bodi was charged with several counts of match-fixing at a hearing on Dec 31 last year, Lorgat said. Bodi had until Jan. 18 to respond to the charges.

Investigators believe Bodi was caught in the “planning stage” with regard to trying to fix the domestic games late last year, Lorgat said. However, Lorgat said the investigation was still ongoing, and could take “weeks, months or even years.”

“We are fortunate … that several players rejected his approaches,” Lorgat said.

Bodi retired from cricket last year and didn’t play in the Ram Slam Twenty20 competition or a warmup tournament that was also targeted for fixes. He was previously named by Cricket South Africa as a suspected “intermediary” between betting syndicates and players in the competition.

“CSA thoroughly considered all the relevant factors and determined that a lengthy ban was appropriate,” Lorgat said.

Under South African law, the cricket body also had to report the corrupt activity to criminal authorities and Bodi could face a jail sentence.

Current players could also be involved in planning fixes. Some players reported Bodi’s approaches to them, Lorgat said, but media reports have named former South Africa test wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile as being suspected of accepting money from Bodi to organize fixes.

Lorgat declined to comment on those reports, saying he would not confirm or deny any that current players were also under investigation. However, the investigation is not over, he said.

The 37-year-old Bodi played two one-day internationals and a Twenty20 game for South Africa in 2007.

The investigation re-opens wounds in South Africa following the Hansie Cronje scandal, when South Africa’s test captain at the time was banned for life for fixing in 2000. Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002.

Cronje was one of the country’s most popular sports stars and one of the game’s leading names and the scandal rocked South African sport and world cricket.

Cricket South Africa’s announcement of a 20-year ban for Bodi on Monday came on the sidelines of the ongoing fourth and final test between South Africa and England at Centurion.

It was the same ground where Cronje organized two innings to be forfeited in a test against England 16 years ago so that a result could be possible with much of the game washed out by rain. At the time, it was viewed as an attempt to give fans some excitement. However, it was later revealed that Cronje received cash and a leather jacket from a bookmaker to ensure there was a result and not a draw in the game.

Lorgat said that five years of the 20-year ban from all cricket-related activities for Bodi had been suspended provided he took part in anti-corruption education programs when asked to by CSA.

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