United
Cricket Board chief Ali Bacher testifies before the King Commission of Inquiry
into cricket match-fixing allegations being held in Cape Town. (ANNA ZIEMINSKI)
Melbourne, Australia, Australian Cricket Board Chief Executive Mal Speed admitted tuesday that he knew about a fortnight ago of allegations that have drawn Australia into the South African match-fixing inquiry.
Speed said South African cricket boss Ali Bacher told him privately two weeks ago of a letter Bacher received from a South African cricket sponsor who had sat next to a Pakistani man, believed to be paceman Shoaib Akhtar, on a flight in South Africa.
The sponsor said that Akhtar had outlined to him Australian involvement and complicity in match-fixing.
Speed said he would have preferred if the allegation had not been made public, however he warned that the claim needed to be treated cautiously.
"It's hearsay on hearsay on hearsay," Speed told a press conference here.
"Dr Bacher was good enough to tell me he'd received this letter from a sponsor about two weeks ago.
"It's disappointing it came out at a public inquiry, but there's nothing we can do about that.
"Dr Bacher, to his credit, has taken the view that he's come forward and told the inquiry about all matters of which he's aware.
"It's unfortunate this, in turn, has put us in a position where we have to respond to what you (a journalist) have termed a flimsy allegation."
Speed spoke to Bacher again Tuesday, but the ACB boss said it was still unclear whether Akhtar was even on the plane.
"Most are rumours, innuendo, gossip."
Speed added the ACB's newly-appointed special investigator, Greg Melick would hand in his first report by the end of the week.
Melick is looking into allegations made by disgraced Pakistan captain Salim Malik that Australian players were involved in fixing a match between the two teams in 1994.
Speed said the alleged conversation between the South African and the Pakistani on the flight could be the subject of Melick's next investigation if the matter was found to have any substance.
Bacher made a series of sensational claims to the South African commission of inquiry on Monday. He said he had been told by former senior Pakistani cricket official Majid Khan that two 1999 World Cup matches - India-Pakistan and Pakistan-Bangladesh - were fixed.
Bacher also said that an Indian bookmaker friend of his, who he identified only as "Mr R.", had told him that Pakistani umpire Javed Ahktar had been on the pay roll of bookmakers when he umpired the fifth Test between England and South Africa in Leeds in 1998, which the tourists lost.
