Witnesses too scared to give evidence: Condon

"Startling allegations of murder, kidnap and threats" to key witnesses in course of a probe into match-fixing scandal, are revealed in the preliminary report of Sir Paul Condon, chief of ICC's anti-corruption unit, media reported here today.

Some important figures remain fearful for their lives and investigators have had to take special precautions when interviewing them, 'The Daily Telegraph', which claims to have seen the 80-page report, reported.

"I have spoken to people who have been threatened and others who have alleged a murder and a kidnapping linked to cricket corruption," the daily quoted Sir Paul as saying in the report. A Pakistani bookie was found murdered sometime back in South Africa though Condon does not directly mention the in his report.

Among the people Condon has interviewed is M K Gupta, the bookmaker who allegedly bribed various cricketers including former captains Hansie Cronje and Mohd Azharuddin.

The anti-corruption team met Gupta last November and again this March and negotiations are on with him for providing detailed information.

Condon is also critical of potential conflicts of interest within ICC and refers to people, with business interests linked to TV, serving on committees.

This is believed to be a reference to former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya who negotiated lucrative TV deals for whose role in these negotiations is subject of investigation.

While Condon believes that the most blatant form of match-fixing has stopped since his unit began work, "there are indications that some players and others are still acting dishonestly and to the order of the bookies".

Condon's suspicions concern the recent Pakistan-New Zealand series and also the ICC knock-out tournament played in Nairobi last autumn when New Zealand beat India in the final.

He concludes that the seeds of the problem may have been sown in England in the 1970s. "Now, investigations into how far corruption has spread around the world are being thwarted by people who are still not prepared to disclose all that they know".

Ironically, while Condon's team interrogated players and bookies from far-away lands in South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Pakistan and India, England wicketkeeper-batsman Alec Stewart, who allegedly took m an Indian bookie, is yet to be interviewed by the anti-corruption unit - more than six months after the allegation surfaced.

Stewart and his lawyer met Condon in January when Stewart returned from England's tour of Pakistan, shortly after the allegations were made, but a formal investigation has still to take place.

The Condon report will be posted on internet tomorrow morning.

Mail Cricket Editor