M A I N   N E W S

I was a bit tempted: Cronje
Ex-skipper ‘clinically depressed’

CAPE TOWN, June 21 (Reuters) — Former South African Cricket captain Hansie Cronje, described earlier by his psychiatrist as clinically depressed, said today he bitterly regretted taking money from bookmakers.

Cronje told Judge Edwin King’s inquiry into alleged match-fixing that he had been fatally tempted by the first approach five years ago.

“I wish I could say today that I told him to get lost. But I didn’t,” he said.

“I was in fact a bit tempted. I was a bit confused. I went out and said he should call me later. A simple ‘no’ then would not have put me in the position I find myself in today.”

Cronje, sacked on April 11 after first denying then admitting taking money from bookmakers, testified last Thursday that he accepted nearly $ 100,000 over a period of four years but denied fixing matches.

At the start of the third week of the inquiry, psychiatrist Ian Lewis said Cronje was clinically depressed but still capable of giving evidence to the inquiry.

“I believe that Mr Cronje is suffering a major depressive disorder, in other words clinical depression,” Ian Lewis said.

“He is capable of giving evidence,” Lewis added in response to a question from Cronje’s counsel Malcolm Wallis. But he said Cronje’s depression might cause lapses in memory and concentration under cross-examination.

“It is my opinion that it would be better for him to have these hearings over,” Lewis said when asked if Cronje should be spared from interrogation until his mental health had recovered.

Meanwhile, Hansie Cronje today revealed a previously undiscand ($ 20,080) paid into his account in January 1997.

Cronje’s lawyers said his auditors were investigating where the money came from and would inform the commission.

The newly-revealed amount of money was deposited five days after a payment of 231,143.40 rand ($ 33,353) was made by Mukesh Gupta, an Indian jeweller and gambler on cricket, for information received during India’s tour of South Africa in 1996/97.

Cronje told the inquiry he had earned close to four million rand ($ 579,000) in sponsorships and endorsements arranged by his agent Clifford Green between 1995 and this year.

He said he was introduced to Mukesh Gupta, known as MK, in a hotel room in India in 1996 by former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who made the introductions and then left. Azharuddin has denied the charge.

Cronje said MK’s opening gambit had been that he was a jeweller looking for an introduction to De Beers in South Africa. Only later did he admit to being a match fixer.

“I took the money and said I would do what I could. It was money for jam,” Cronje said. “It was a mistake. I didn’t talk to any of the players. I kept it to myself. South Africa lost the match, which was the last of the tour.

Cronje said MK had come to South Africa later that year when India was touring. He asked Cronje for match information on the first Test in Durban and was told India had no chance of winning. Asked for more information on the second Test in Cape Town, Cronje told MK at what point South Africa would declare.

Mukesh ‘holidaying’

NEW DELHI, June 21 (PTI) — Indian bookmaker Mukesh Kumar Gupta, named by disgraced former South African skipper Hansie Cronje, is presently holidaying with his family, his counsel Vineet Malhotra said here today.

Gupta’s father K.L. Gupta, who owns a jewellery shop, had earlier claimed that his son was “missing” and expressed apprehension that he might have been picked up by an investigating agency in the wake of Cronje’s charge that Gupta had bribed him during a cricket Test in 1996 at Kanpur.

However, Malhotra said Gupta’s father had told the CBI that he would send his son immediately to the agency on his arrival.