World Cup should be free of corruption, says Condon

The head of ICC's anti-corruption campaign, Lord Condon, has said that his unit was on top of corruption, and that, while staggering sums were still being put on wager, he was confident the 2003 World Cup would be free of what he called `event-fixing'.

Speaking at a well-attended press briefing here, Lord Condon said that while his Unit has been able to eliminate corruption to an irreducible minimum, the problem still existed. "Players are human, and can be lured into malpractice," he said. His unit's job was to choke the corruptors' access to players. "Hence, the recommendation to control the access to players on the ground, restrictions on the use of mobile phones, and CCTV monitoring of dressing room entrances and team hotel lobbies and lifts," he said.

In the last one year or so, the ACU, Lord Condon revealed, has been able to thwart and frustrate attempts at match-fixing, which he thought was a wrong term to describe corruption in cricket. It should, he urged, instead be called event-fixing. "It was not only the result which was being bet on, but just about everything," he said, referring to spread-betting.

The stakes were really huge, and $150 million to $1 billion on a single one-dayer were being bet through illegal syndicates. And the players needed to be protected from corruptors, who had vast resources at their disposal to "seduce the players".

Lord Condon said that in order to protect cricketers from such influences, he had recommended putting in physical systems, such as close circuit cameras in the corridors leading up to the dressing rooms, hotel lobby and lifts in which the teams stay. This "sensible but stringent security regime", he said, will act as a deterrent to the corruptors and protect the players from being approached by unwanted elements and also by over-exuberant fans.

This was the absolute minimum, he said, and was meant to be as unobtrusive as possible. "Never ever was it suggested that the cameras would be placed in the dressing rooms or players hotel rooms," Condon said, adding that the idea was to let the players and spectators enjoy the game and at the same time save players from unsavoury characters. Other sports had put in similar measures and cricket had to follow suit.

Lord Condon dispelled the impression that the focus was on Sharjah. "It is a misapprehension that the focus was on Sharjah. Since June 2001, we have assisted other venues such as Canada, and we would be doing the same with Singapore, Hong Kong and Morocco. It really was Sharjah who knocked on our door, asking us for help in installing security and vigilance systems. And it has acted swiftly in acting upon the ACU recommendations, which would be followed everywhere in the world," he said.

To combat the problem on a continuous basis, five full time security managers were to be appointed by the ICC shortly, a significant addition to the anti-corruption infra-structure. Each of these managers would be responsible for two Test-playing nations. These managers, who would mostly be from the countries involved, would be doing security and surveillance duties in each of the series played in the future. The pairings are: West Indies and England, Pakistan and Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe and Australia and New Zealand.

The new measures that the ACU has proposed would come up for discussion at the next ICC Executive Board meeting in March.

Lord Condon praised the robust action taken by the Pakistani and Indian Boards to punish those involved in match-fixing.

As for the 2003 World Cup, Lord Condon said that he was part of the security directorate set up for the purpose and the ACU is actively supporting the Proteas to put in a thorough security operatus in place. "We're positive that with appropriate measures being taken, the 2003 World Cup would be corruption free," he said.