Hong Kong investigated by Anti-Corruption Unit: International Cricket Council
David Richardson, the International Cricket Council chief executive, has acknowledged that Hong Kong are being investigated by the anti-corruption unit.
On Sunday, Ronnie Flanagan, chairman of ICC's Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), told reporters that members of an international team had intentions to manipulate events in forthcoming matches. "It will be very difficult for me to talk about specific details about an ongoing case, but quite recently we have a reason to believe that members of a particular team have intentions to manipulate events in forthcoming matches," he had said. "This was an international team but I am not going to go into any details because it is still under our investigation."
Responding to that, Richardson didn't directly reveal Hong Kong's name but confirmed that it was side that had a player was suspended for failing to report an illegal approach. In January this year, Irfan Ahmed, the allrounder, had been suspended by the ICC after he failed to report an offer made to him by an alleged match-fixer.
"In recent times you would have read in the media that a particular player was suspended from his country and the investigations relate to the same team," Richardson told reporters in Delhi on Monday (March 7). "[Flanagan] said one of the teams was under investigation. We need to take that in perspective.
"We shouldnt speculate that it involves any match-fixing or spot-fixing with any particular players or particular team. An investigation will resolve it."
When contacted, the team's media spokesperson said he was not sure about what was going on. "The reporting seems to be a bit vague and at this stage we are not sure about what's going on," the spokesperson said. "But it seems to be referring to Irfan Ahmed who was provisionally suspended under the ACSU code. I can only guess that that's the case the latest comments refer to.
"We have heard that he (Richardson) had made this comment, but it wasn't at the press conference but somewhere outside. So we are waiting to find out whether it's actually confirmed. You would know the process involved to know what an awkward position this is. Normally, we would say no comment but we don't even know what we are (not) commenting on."
The spokesperson also said that they hope to get some clarity on Richardson's comment in the next few days. "As an associate team we rarely get the opportunity to play on a global stage and this is not very good for our team," he pointed out. "If we don't progress to the second stage, we won't be on the global stage for at least another two years. There's definitely lots at stake here, and we hope to get some clarity in the coming days.
"We don't want this distracting our team, we don't want this affecting our chances and we are here to perform strongly. We have got every intention to progress to the next round. We will certainly be as open as we possibly can be. We will be pushing for a quick resolution on this matter. This is not at all what we want to be associated with."
Meanwhile, Richardson admitted that the match-fixers are now targeting the associate members. "We are now finding that the corruptors are now focused on associate members, womens teams, etc," he pointed out. "So we have got to make sure the players from all the teams are very well educated, understand their responsibilities and would not get involved.
"Unfortunately, this is the world we are living. There are corrupt people all over the world, trying their best to get hold of players."
Hong Kong will start their campaign against Zimbabwe in the tournament opener before playing Afghanistan and Scotland in the T20 WC Qualifying stage.
http://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/...corruption-unit-international-cricket-council
David Richardson, the International Cricket Council chief executive, has acknowledged that Hong Kong are being investigated by the anti-corruption unit.
On Sunday, Ronnie Flanagan, chairman of ICC's Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), told reporters that members of an international team had intentions to manipulate events in forthcoming matches. "It will be very difficult for me to talk about specific details about an ongoing case, but quite recently we have a reason to believe that members of a particular team have intentions to manipulate events in forthcoming matches," he had said. "This was an international team but I am not going to go into any details because it is still under our investigation."
Responding to that, Richardson didn't directly reveal Hong Kong's name but confirmed that it was side that had a player was suspended for failing to report an illegal approach. In January this year, Irfan Ahmed, the allrounder, had been suspended by the ICC after he failed to report an offer made to him by an alleged match-fixer.
"In recent times you would have read in the media that a particular player was suspended from his country and the investigations relate to the same team," Richardson told reporters in Delhi on Monday (March 7). "[Flanagan] said one of the teams was under investigation. We need to take that in perspective.
"We shouldnt speculate that it involves any match-fixing or spot-fixing with any particular players or particular team. An investigation will resolve it."
When contacted, the team's media spokesperson said he was not sure about what was going on. "The reporting seems to be a bit vague and at this stage we are not sure about what's going on," the spokesperson said. "But it seems to be referring to Irfan Ahmed who was provisionally suspended under the ACSU code. I can only guess that that's the case the latest comments refer to.
"We have heard that he (Richardson) had made this comment, but it wasn't at the press conference but somewhere outside. So we are waiting to find out whether it's actually confirmed. You would know the process involved to know what an awkward position this is. Normally, we would say no comment but we don't even know what we are (not) commenting on."
The spokesperson also said that they hope to get some clarity on Richardson's comment in the next few days. "As an associate team we rarely get the opportunity to play on a global stage and this is not very good for our team," he pointed out. "If we don't progress to the second stage, we won't be on the global stage for at least another two years. There's definitely lots at stake here, and we hope to get some clarity in the coming days.
"We don't want this distracting our team, we don't want this affecting our chances and we are here to perform strongly. We have got every intention to progress to the next round. We will certainly be as open as we possibly can be. We will be pushing for a quick resolution on this matter. This is not at all what we want to be associated with."
Meanwhile, Richardson admitted that the match-fixers are now targeting the associate members. "We are now finding that the corruptors are now focused on associate members, womens teams, etc," he pointed out. "So we have got to make sure the players from all the teams are very well educated, understand their responsibilities and would not get involved.
"Unfortunately, this is the world we are living. There are corrupt people all over the world, trying their best to get hold of players."
Hong Kong will start their campaign against Zimbabwe in the tournament opener before playing Afghanistan and Scotland in the T20 WC Qualifying stage.
http://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/...corruption-unit-international-cricket-council
