The King Commission Interim Report

MS BATOHI: But it is apparent from your first discussion with him, that that would not be enough, he wanted you to lose matches, isn't that correct?

MR CRONJé: Yes, he wanted me to be able to influence other players, to try and help him with losing a match, yes.

MS BATOHI: Did he tell you this at the first meeting, that he would expect you to influence other players?

MR CRONJé: Yes.

MS BATOHI: You said that this money was handed to you in a cell-phone box, containing US dollars in case you changed your mind, changed your mind about what?

MR CRONJé: In case he wanted me to lose a match.

MS BATOHI: So basically you know now that when you had taken that money, you couldn't change your mind, you had to go along with it?

MR CRONJé: I could always return it in case I didn't perform to my ability I suppose and if the opportunity never arrived I could have given the money back, yes.

MS BATOHI: Did that thought cross your mind at the time when you took the money?

MR CRONJé: I won't say that, no.

MS BATOHI: So effectively then when you took that money you realised that you were hooked at that stage already?

MR CRONJé: I didn't think at that stage I was hooked, no, it only became apparent later when I was trying to feed him snippets of information and it wasn't working, that he was becoming more and more insistent on trying to give him more and more information and to try and help him to predict the results more and more carefully.

MS BATOHI: Mr Cronjé, I don't understand that. Why didn't that occur to you at that very moment when you took those $15,000 you knew then that money was given to you so that you don't change your mind, you must have realised then when you took the money that there was no turning back now, didn't you?

MR CRONJé: No, I honestly thought that if Mr Sanjay wasn't happy with what I did I could give the money back later.

MS BATOHI: But you just a minute ago said that that thought didn't cross your mind at that time?

MR CRONJé: As I say to you that I thought that I could feed him snippets of information and obviously he wanted me to, more than just information, he wanted me to influence other players as well.

MS BATOHI: I am not going to belabour this point, Mr Cronjé, but what I am putting to you is that when you took that money, at that point, the thought never occurred to you that you would give the money back? You must surely have realised, the money was given to you just to make sure that you don't change your mind, that you knew, that is in your statement. You must therefore have realised that when you accepted that money, you were effectively hooked, because the thought of returning it, never crossed your mind.

MR CRONJé: It became apparent to me later on that he was insistent on getting results from me, yes.

MS BATOHI: Why didn't you think at the time that that is what you were expected to do?

MR CRONJé: I thought that there was no sure way of, or he actually told me that there was no sure way when I just feed him with information, he needs to get a match where we have a certainty of losing.

MS BATOHI: Sorry, I don't understand that.

MR CRONJé: I am trying my best. Sanjay wanted me to give him snippets of, or give him information that would be helpful, but he actually didn't want information that will just help him with predicting weather conditions and that, I think he wanted more than that, I think he wanted to be sure of what the result of the game was going to be. I gave him the impression that I was able to do that, at the meeting.

MS BATOHI: Well, it is not just a matter of what you thought, Mr Cronjé, because just a moment ago you said that what you knew at that stage was that he expected you to throw matches and to speak to other players to do that, isn't that correct?

MR CRONJé: Yes, he wanted me to speak to other players and I gave him the impression that I would, yes.

MS BATOHI: What did you do, well, at that stage when he gave you the money, your testimony has been that you had no idea how much was in there, I just find that a bit strange, maybe you can explain that to us. Was nothing at all said between the two of you at that stage, regarding how much was in that box?

MR CRONJé: I think the money, not "I think", I know the money that he gave me was a sort of deposit for maybe speaking to the players and helping to influence players and that there would be a further sum if in fact I was able to predict the result, not predict, to give him a result in the right way.

MS BATOHI: Did you think or did he say that to you?

MR CRONJé: He said that to me.

MS BATOHI: I see. So this was just a deposit and if you delivered, then there was going to be more?

MR CRONJé: That is correct."

It is clear that Sanjay wanted nothing less than a "fixed" match from Cronjé.

The meeting, of an estimated 10 minutes duration, ended with Sanjay giving Cronjé a sum of money amounting to $10,000 - $15,000; Cassim was still present; it is not without significance that both Cronjé and Sanjay were prepared to conduct the whole transaction in Cassim's presence. It is noted at this stage that Cronjé said that he received the money in a cell-phone box whereas Cassim recalled that Sanjay had handed Cronjé an envelope.

In answer to Mr Blumberg, Cassim's attorney, Cronjé said the following:

"MR CRONJé: Sanjay originally wanted some information, which could be helpful for the matches in South Africa. He also passed on a specific interest in the match against Zimbabwe at Durban, which he wanted us to try and get a negative result in his favour in trying to get him to make some money, which I said to him is no go, unless we are assured of a place in the final I will not at all play ball. And then Sanjay just wanted information from me, and he said that, 'Well, if you have a change of mind', in other words, if South Africa does qualify for the final, will you have a change of mind, and I suggested to him that I will, yes. But the only time that it was mentioned that we would be interested in - or I would be interested in playing ball with Sanjay from the point of view of losing a match would be once we've qualified for the final. In that I meant that maybe some of the reserves could play, or it can happen that if you want a particular opponent in the final then you might want to try and get somebody into the final so that it's a lesser opponent for that matter. But I certainly never suggested to him that we would lose that particular game or a game in the future. I merely suggested to him that here may be that possibility."

"The only time that I can help him with information that's going to be from the point of view of win/lose situation would be once we've qualified for the final, and that situation never arrived in South Africa."

From time to time, Cronjé protested that he was "spinning Sanjay along", agreeing to do what Sanjay required of him, accepting the latter's money, with no intention of complying fully with what Sanjay asked of him. Whatever mental reservations Cronjé may have had however, he certainly conveyed to Sanjay that in appropriate circumstances he would be prepared to throw a match.

The spinning even included, according to Cronjé, fabricating the story that certain of the players were angry because they had not been paid, as also that involving the participation of teammates whom he named as being willing to cooperate.

Term of Reference A2

Term of reference A2 covers the period 1 November 1999 to 17 April 2000. During this period South Africa played the fourth and last day of the test against Zimbabwe at Bloemfontein, the test against Zimbabwe at Harare, 5 tests against England in South Africa, the triangular one-day series against England and Zimbabwe, 2 tests and five one-dayers in India, the triangular series against India and Pakistan at Sharjah and 3 limited overs matches against Australia, being the South African leg of a 6 match series; the last of these matches took place on 16 April 2000.

Evidence was received under this term of reference concerning:

a. the 5th test against England at Centurion Park from 14 - 18 January 2000 b. the tour to India in February/March 2000, particularly the 1st test at Mumbai on 24, 25 and 26 February 2000; the 2nd test at Bangalore on 2 - 6 March 2000 and the limited overs series, 5 matches from 9 - 19 March 2000

The 5th test against England at Centurion Park from 14 - 18 January 2000.

England won the toss and put South Africa in to bat; the start was delayed by rain and further curtailed for the same reason later that day; 45 overs were bowled and South Africa were 155-6 at close of play.

On days 2,3 and 4 there was no play at all due to inclement weather conditions. During the 4th day a meeting was held, attended by Bacher, Nasser Hussain (the England Captain), the match umpires and match referees and Hansie Cronjé. Discussions ensued as to whether it would be possible to utilise the 5th and final day, weather permitting. Apparently no decision was reached.

That evening Cronjé received a call on his mobile phone from one, Marlon Aronstam, who urged him to "make a game of it" by declaring the South African first innings closed early, to be followed by a formal declaration (at 0/0) by England and a forfeiture by South Africa of its second innings, leaving England in its second innings to top South Africa's first innings score, thereby ensuring the probability of a positive result to the Test match.

On the morning of the last day this suggestion was discussed by the team and management of both sides; the England side was initially reluctant to agree to the plan but after some 45 minutes play, Cronjé received a message from his opposite number, Hussain that England was now interested in a competitive declaration.

There were "discussions" about a realistic target to be set and it was eventually agreed that South Africa would declare, which they did at 248-8 after 72 overs. The rest, as they say, is history - England scored 251-8 in 75.1 overs and won the "Test". Cronjé's first offer of a declaration which would leave England to get 270 runs in 73 overs was rejected by the England captain, so was his second, 255 runs in 73 overs; the third, 249 in 76 overs was accepted. Cronjé was obviously determined to see the plan carried out.

One must needs look behind the scores. The decision to contrive a result or at least to attempt to do so was not well received in the South African dressing room; some of the players were against the whole idea; others were dissatisfied with the target set, which they thought was too favourable to England. Cronjé said that there were some team members in favour of the plan, but they must have been in a minority. Jacques Kallis testified that "a lot of the guys were very upset". Lance Klusener said that "most of the guys" (including himself) thought it wasn't a good idea; Klusener said he himself was upset (in his statement he says "angry") and "a little bit astounded".

What the rest of the team and also the management did not know was that Cronjé had had dealings with Marlon Aronstam who, as has been said, planted the idea with him.

Aronstam is well versed in sports betting; he has been involved for some 18 years in the betting industry; largely horse racing until sports' betting was legalized. He was until the end of March 2000 a shareholder in National Sporting Index (NSI) a proprietary company listed on the Venture Capital Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; he was a trader and advisor on betting both in respect of horseracing and also various sports. The incidents dealt with in this report as these involve Aronstam were participated in by him in his personal capacity and not as a representative of NSI.

Aronstam phoned Cronjé and put his suggestion. They arranged to meet in Cronjé's hotel room at 10:00 that evening.

Aronstam was quite explicit as to what motivated him in his approach to Cronjé with the suggestion that each side forfeit an innings, leaving England with a target on the last day; he wanted a positive result and he would back both sides at long odds to win and cover himself by backing a draw at short odds - say, even money; in the event of a win by either side he would achieve a 40 - 45% return on his total investment, an anticipated total of R300 000, 00 - R500 000, 00. Cronjé knew from the start that Aronstam was a gambler and that he wanted to bet on the game. Aronstam's proposal as to how to contrive a result and produce a fascinating day's cricket found favour with Cronjé.

In the course of the telephone call Aronstam had informed Cronjé that if the latter could arrange the game as he suggested, he, Aronstam, would give an amount of R200 000, 00 (Cronjé recalled it as R500 000, 00) to a charity of Cronjé's choice. The game was so arranged eventually but it was too late for Aronstam to place his bets. Aronstam made it clear to Cronjé that because of this the "charitable donation" was no longer open. ("Charitable donation" needs at this stage to be put in inverted commas.)

According to Aronstam, Cronjé started discussing "the possibilities of making money in cricket" and mentioned that "the possibility exists in way of throwing a match".

Aronstam averred that he was shocked. When he left the hotel he telephoned certain of his friends, telling them that Cronjé had said that he was prepared to throw a match. Aronstam had obviously taken Cronjé seriously. Cronjé's parting shot as Aronstam was leaving the room was to ask how it was possible to make money out of cricket, to which Aronstam replied saying "the ball is in your court!" Cronjé does not deny this; in fact he testified that "it could have happened".

Aronstam further said, and Cronjé did not deny, that at their first meeting the two discussed how to make money on a cricket game and Cronjé said that this required the cooperation of team members. Pitch reports, Aronstam says he told Cronjé, are worth money; this is what Aronstam testified that he wanted and what he was prepared to and indeed did in advance, pay R50 000, 00 for. He regarded pitch reports from Cronjé as more valuable than those of TV commentators. Compare this with Cronjé's own assessment that "90% of the time they're more accurate than the Captains, yes" referring to pitch reports by experts (i.e. ex internationals, now TV and radio commentators). According to Cronjé he also supplied Aronstam with weather reports and estimates of scores.

Cronjé did however tell Aronstam that the only way that money could be made on a cricket match was "if you in fact had players on your side, and you could influence the result of a game that way, by negative performances from players."

Thus, according to Aronstam, Cronjé received R50 000, 00 for future cooperation with Aronstam. As Cronjé said "… could have been for a future relationship with him. I don't know, it could have been for the Centurion test match".

In fact Cronjé admits that he gave Aronstam the impression that "once South Africa has qualified for a final, then I would be prepared to talk to him about anything".

Furthermore Cronjé admitted that he told Aronstam that he was prepared to "throw" the game against India at Cochin (the first one-day international of the March 2000 series in India, to be played on 9 March), although he later told Aronstam, after the second test ended a few days before the Cochin ODI, that throwing the game was "off".

Aronstam testified that at this time Cronjé "cooled off" in their relationship and suggested that this may have been due to the intervention of Sanjay (of which Aronstam was unaware at the time.) Cronjé denied the cooling off.

Aronstam gave Cronjé an additional R3 000, 00 (for a total of R53 000, 00, given in cash). Cronjé thought that this amount of R3000, 00 was for future information. Aronstam did not specify the purpose or objective of this largesse which is why Cronjé could only speculate thereon. If the R3000 was for information, the R50 000 could have been in respect of the Centurion match. Aronstam also gave Cronjé a leather jacket for his wife.

It is a matter of conjecture whether Cassim played the minor role he described in his dealings with Sanjay on the one hand and Cronjé on the other.

Thus it was Cassim who set up the initial meeting in Durban. He in fact flew down from Johannesburg (and back the same day) by pre-arrangement at Sanjay's expense in order to introduce Sanjay to Cronjé. Why it was necessary to have done this, having regard to the fact that Cronjé was readily accessible to members of the public as he himself testified, one does not know. One would have expected that Cassim would first have telephoned Cronjé and asked him if he would meet Sanjay and if Cronjé had refused, Cassim would have come down to Durban, but it did not happen that way.

In fact Cassim agreed in evidence that he should have merely telephoned Cronjé in order to set up the meeting, particularly in view of the fact that his business and family commitments were such that he couldn't even stay for the match the next day.

Cassim was present during the discussion, which he had arranged. He testified that he took no part in it and occupied himself with watching a cricket match on TV. He did however admit to having heard parts of the conversation (the meeting lasted approximately 10 minutes) and to having seen Sanjay hand Cronjé a sealed envelope which he assumed contained not just money, but US dollars (he was right!). He professed to have been shocked by what he saw.

After Sanjay returned to London he and Cassim kept in telephonic contact. Thereafter when Sanjay was in India in March 2000, particularly at the time of the first ODI at Cochin (or perhaps earlier), staying in the same hotel as the SA team, he telephoned Cassim in Johannesburg an estimated 20 - 30 times requiring him to make contact with Cronjé in order to set up a meeting of Sanjay and Cronjé.

At this time, in India, Cronjé was constantly being telephoned by Cassim, sometimes in the small hours of the morning; during this period Sanjay was himself in direct telephonic contact with Cronjé which makes one wonder why, if Cassim was merely an intermediary (as he would have it) it was necessary for him to telephone Cronjé as often as he did, if he needed to at all.

Cassim denied Cronjé's evidence that he, Cassim kept telephoning Cronjé and saying that he should speak to Sanjay who was now worse off than before (having been financially involved in the Cochin ODI), that he needed to make some money and that Cronjé would have to deliver something.

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Mail Cricket Editor