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Cronje reveals new payment

Fallen South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje today revealed a previously undisclosed bank deposit which he said may have been related to payments from an Indian gambler.

Resuming his testimony after a stern warning to his legal team by Judge Edwin King that he needed to be convinced the disgraced skipper was telling the whole truth, Cronje said he was not sure of the origin of an amount of 139,158.70 rand ($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 said the initial amount related to a payment of "about $50,000" revealed in his statement last Thursday.

He said he had been made aware of the second amount when he received a statement from his auditors covering his bank savings account during January 1997.

"It could be payment for two separate matches," said Cronje, who had given Gupta information about the first and second Test matches during the series.

Cronje gave evidence after the court was told by a psychiatrist that he was suffering from clinical depression.

Dr. Ian Lewis said Cronje was fit to give evidence but he was concerned that Cronje's illness might affect his concentration and memory.

"He may have difficulty understanding complex questions," he said.

Lewis said, however, he believed it would be better for Cronje "to have the hearings over with" than to have further delays.

Before Cronje resumed his testimony, Judge King said in his statement last Thursday there was a suggestion that Cronje's "resolve to tell the whole truth" was limited to the terms of reference of the commission.

He warned that unless he was convinced Cronje had told the whole truth, not limited to the terms of reference, he might have difficulty in making a recommendation to the state prosecutor to uphold a conditional offer of indemnity from criminal prosection.

Questioned by his lawyer, Malcolm Wallis, Cronje gave more details of meetings with bookmakers and gamblers.

He said of his first contact with "John", who had offered him about $10,000 to lose a one-day final against Pakistan in Cape Town in January 1995.

"I wish I could say I had told him to get lost," Cronje said.

Instead he was tempted and asked for time to think about the offer.

"A simple no would have made my life a whole lot easier and I wouldn't be in the situation I am in now."

Cronje then told of being introduced to Gupta by then Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin in Kanpur during the third and final Test match in India in December 1996.

Gupta gave Cronje about $30,000 in cash and then made an offer of $200,000 to the team to lose a one-day match in Mumbai at the end of the tour. This offer had been rejected. Cronje said no players were in favour of accepting the offer.

Malcolm Gray, president-elect of the International Cricket Council (ICC), attended today's hearings as an observer. Gray, from Australia, takes over as ICC president from Jagmohan Dalmiya of India at the ICC Congress in London on Monday.

The King Commission was set up to investigate the period from November 1, 1999 to April 17, 2000 and the time in December 1996 when Cronje allegedly passed on an offer to the South African team to accept money for losing a match in Bombay.