“If there’s a player’s or official’s name involved, we will follow that evidence. I’m not confirming or denying any names,” said Lorgat at a press conference in Centurion on Monday during the fourth Test between South Africa and England.
“We don’t make any comment on an investigation that is ongoing. And importantly, we won’t confirm or deny any name that is mentioned in the media. In fact I think the media at times do not exercise the best responsibility from my point of view. They make the investigation more complicated in what is already a complicated matter. We won’t stop short until we’ve concluded every last shred of evidence. And that could take us weeks, months if not years.
“The evidence that we’ve got and the confessions made by Bodi suggest we got him in a planning phase and no fixes were active. Several players rejected Bodi’s approaches.”
And following the ban of Bodi, Lorgat could also not say whether or not South African cricket was free from corruption.
“It is not a categoric statement I can make now. The investigation is still ongoing. I think it’s damaging to the reputation of cricket. The fact that it happened in South Africa just makes it that much more difficult in a South African environment. It happened in England. It happened with a Pakistan Test match at Lord’s. This is not unique to South Africa. We’ve said that for a long time.”
Bodi was charged with several counts of contriving or attempting to fix matches on 31 December 2015 following an investigation conducted by CSA’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit. Under the provisions of the Anti-Corruption Code for Personnel, Bodi had until 18 January 2016 to respond to the charges.
The charges referred to the period starting September 1, 2015 and could, therefore, include the inaugural edition of the Africa T20 Cup.
Source: African News Agency (ANA)
