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Cronje's June 22 testimony

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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: I thought that there was no sure way of, or he actually told me that there is 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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: I think the money, not "I think", I know the money that he gave me was a sort of deposit for maybe speaking to 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 that or did he say that to you?

MR CRONJE: 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 CRONJE: That is correct.

MS BATOHI: How much did you think was in that box, at that stage?

MR CRONJE: I had no clear idea.

MS BATOHI: Did you ask him?

MR CRONJE: No, I think it was between $15 000 and $20 000, $10 000, $15 000, $20 000, somewhere there.

MS BATOHI: On your own version, it could have been $30 000, you had no idea at all?

MR CRONJE: It could have been more.

MS BATOHI: What about $47 000?

MR CRONJE: It could have been, it could have been 60 000, it could have been $80 000.

MS BATOHI: Mr Cronjé, wasn't it important at that stage that the two of you knew between yourselves how much money was in that box, what if Mr - Sanjay at a later stage came up to you and said "well, there was $200 000 in that box" and you open it and find there is only $10 000, how are you going to prove to him that it was only $10 000?

MR CRONJE: I would have given him the money back, whatever I had in my possession.

MS BATOHI: What did you do with this money after he gave it to you, the box?

MR CRONJE: I had at that stage a briefcase with me for studying with the University of South Africa, first of all I put the money in a safe and then I put it in my briefcase and travelled around with it, until I got home, and then dumped the money in a filing cabinet at home.

MS BATOHI: I take it you left it in the cellphone box?

MR CRONJE: No, I had it in a Adidas bag at that stage.

MS BATOHI: So, it didn't really matter to you, you just mixed it up with a whole lot of other money apparently that you had at home, is that what you did?

MR CRONJE: By the time I got home, I put it in a filing cabinet, where I kept some of my previous money from the tours as well, yes.

MS BATOHI: Would you have been able to establish how much it was that Sanjay gave to you?

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