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S African govt steps into match-fixing row

JOHANNESBURG: The South African government has stepped into the row over claims cricket captain Hansie Cronje was involved in match-fixing in India, demanding voice tapes which Indian police say will prove the allegations.

Amid a growing diplomatic flare-up, India's High Commissioner was, meanwhile, summoned to Pretoria on Saturday to explain why the players' cellphones and rooms were bugged during their tour of India.

Indian police dropped a bombshell on Friday when they announced they were filing charges against Cronje and teammates Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom for allegedly fixing matches in a one-day series last month which India won 3-2.

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told the Johannesburg on Sunday Times that South Africa's High Commissioner to India had listened to excerpts from the tapes and was convinced the accents are not South African.

The Indian government, however, turned down the High Commissioner's request for a copy of the tapes. "They must give us those tapes," Pahad said. "We want to carry out our own inquiry. If there is any substance to the allegations Ñ and I doubt very much that the individuals concerned are capable of something like that Ñ we will take the necessary steps."

The government also wants to know why the South African authorities were kept in the dark about the matter for weeks and heard about it only when it was announced at a press conference on Friday.

The deputy commissioner of crime prevention in New Delhi, Shripradeep Strivasta told the newspaper police would prove that Cronje's voice was on the tapes. He admitted, however, that no voice-authentification tests had been done on the tapes.

He said the tapes are locked away in a safe in New Delhi and would be produced only when the matter came before court.ÑAFP