NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Cronje's June 22 testimony

COMMISSIONER: Will the real Mr Sanjay please stand up? (General laughter)

MR BLUMBERG: My client is not present Your Worship, in spite of the urgings from my left to ask my client.

MS BATOHI: Just referring to your statement again, you say that you were due to play in the fourth One-day international against Zimbabwe in Durban on the 2nd of February and the team was staying at the Beverley Hills Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: You say that when you were, "Hamied was at the hotel when we arrived", is that correct?

MR CRONJE: I don't think the wording in the statement is one hundred percent, I think when I returned from one of the practices, either from a practice or from a golf day, Hamied was at the hotel.

MS BATOHI: Give us a little bit of background about how you came to meet Sanjay at the hotel, how did it happen?

MR CRONJE: Hamied came to my room at the Beverley Hills and asked me to go up to a friend of his from London that he wanted to meet, to introduce, that he wanted to introduce me to.

MS BATOHI: Did you go to the friend's room?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: Well, you described Mr - in paragraph 34 - Hamied as a regular hanger around the team and you were prepared to go with him to meet somebody else in that person's room?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: Why is that, why didn't you ask him to, tell "him to come to my room"?

MR CRONJE: Well, he introduced me to a lot of people before, and I had no objection to that, he introduced me to as he correctly said, a filmstar at the Wanderers and he has introduced me to a lot of his friends before.

MS BATOHI: I understand that, but what I just find a bit odd is that this person that you don't really regard as a friend, in your words you call him a regular hanger on, that you are prepared to leave your room and go to meet somebody else in another room, why were you prepared to do that?

MR CRONJE: I don't know, I think that Mr Hamied just wanted to introduce me to a friend, he was staying in the same hotel and he wanted me to go up to his room.

MS BATOHI: You then go to this friend's room, who turns out to be Sanjay. Tell us what happened there?

MR CRONJE: Sanjay said to me that he is a person that likes to put money on cricket, he has a particular interest in that, and that he wanted me to give him some information that will be helpful for the One-day series and he also asked me if there was a possibility of maybe losing one match where he could make a lot of money.

MS BATOHI: Yes, carry on. What happened after that?

MR CRONJE: He handed me some money.

MS BATOHI: You told him that you were not prepared to do it unless you were assured of a place in the final, is that correct?

MR CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: Why did you tell him that, is that what you really intended to do?

MR CRONJE: I think the reason for telling him that was that I tried to give him a fair chance on a game in case we had actually qualified for a place in the final, and then played an understrength side in the triangular, but I don't think that I ever would have gone through with that, I think I was spinning, not I think, I know I was spinning him along as I never even had any players on my side, and never had spoken to any players before, but I gave him the impression that I have.

MS BATOHI: You see, this is what I don't understand, Mr Cronjé, you don't have any intention of doing what he expects of you, but you are prepared to take the money?

MR CRONJE: That is correct, I thought I could take the money, give him a promise of something in the future and then give him information in the meantime, just feeding him snippets of information in the meantime.

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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: Yes.

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

MR CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: 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.

Click here for more....