(UTV|COLOMBO) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has launched an official appeal to identify Aneel Munawar, one of the key figures in the Al Jazeera documentary on match-fixing from earlier this year. Munawar was alleged to be a match-fixer with links to the “D company” in the Doha-based channel’s exposé, which aired in May. But in a press release on Tuesday, the ICC admitted to the “real identity” of the alleged fixer still being a “mystery” and that the appeal to find him was part of an overall investigation being conducted into the matter by their Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). They also revealed to have identified and spoken to every other person featured in the documentary.
The original documentary had revealed among other allegations, claims from Munawar about “sessions having been fixed” during two Tests in India over the 2016-17 season. The first was the India-England Test in Chennai where three English cricketers are alleged to have had links with bookies. Similarly, there were claims of corruption during the India-Australia Test in Ranchi in early 2017 when two Australian cricketers came under the scanner with Munawar providing details of the alleged fix.
In the ICC release, ACU general manager Alex Marshall, talked about how “law enforcement and immigration sources” have failed to identify Munawar despite their efforts. “As such we are appealing to the public or anyone from within the cricket family to contact us with any information that will lead us to identify and locate him. Police investigations often use such an appeal to locate people of interest and we are exercising the same approach,” he is quoted in the release as saying.
The ICC and Al Jazeera have been at loggerheads ever since the investigation into the documentary commenced. The world body has constantly criticized the channel for “hampering their investigation” by not sharing the “unedited and unseen evidence”. And Marshall also goes on to highlight the “absence of cooperation” from Al Jazeera in Tuesday’s release.
“The absence of any cooperation from the broadcaster has slowed the investigation, but to date we have made good progress in identifying people of significant interest including people already of interest to the ACU. We have been able to discount a number of claims made in the programme and continue to pursue other aspects,” he said.
The CA too have agreed with the ICC when it comes to Al Jazeera not playing ball with the investigation like they would expect them to. Chief Executive James Sutherland, however, insisted that “credible claims” would be treated seriously by the Australian board despite not being provided with “an opportunity to review any raw audio or footage”.
There is intrigue over the “second documentary” that Al Jazeera are expected to air soon, especially with claims being made of even more players coming under scrutiny via allegations from the fixer and other Indian bookies. Marshall admitted that the ACU was bracing up for them, and would investigate those claims too “extremely seriously”.
The Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Alistair Nicholson, meanwhile, is also quoted in the CA release where he talks about the players having a “zero tolerance for any behaviour that may impact upon the integrity of the game.” But with Al Jazeera’s follow-up sting believed to bring some more Aussie players into question, Nicholson did have a few stern words in their defense.
“However, enough is enough when it comes to people making unsupported accusations… Whoever is making these allegations should provide all the information they purport to have to the ICC to allow them to assess it,” he said.
Source : indianexpress
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