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Aronstam's June 23 testimony

MR ARONSTAM: The statement of "the ball in your court" is one thousand percent correct.

MR DICKERSON: So this discussion of match-fixing to which you have referred occurred at this stage when you got up to leave the room?

MR ARONSTAM: Correct.

MR DICKERSON: And what MR CRONJE said to you is, "how is it possible for him to make money out of cricket?"

MR ARONSTAM: Correct.

MR DICKERSON: That's all he said.

MR ARONSTAM: No. As I said to you if I started telling everything, exactly what he said, no-one will believe me. The man suggested to me he can throw a One-day international as long as South Africa are in the final. And he even mentioned to me, I remember for definite sure, Gibbs, Strydom and Bojé. When the news broke out that MR CRONJE had been allegedly involved in match-fixing I was in Mauritius at the time, and a friend of mine called me on the phone, he said "Marlon have you heard what's happened?". I said "No". He said, "Hansie Cronjé, Nicky Bojé, Strydom and Williams had been implicated in match-fixing", and my answer was, "I am not surprised", because those were the exact same names that MR CRONJE had mentioned to me that night.

MR DICKERSON: Mr Aronstam on Wednesday of this week, the 21st of June, after you had no doubt followed the proceedings in this Commission ...(intervention)

MR ARONSTAM: In detail.

MR DICKERSON: ....and you had consulted with your legal representatives, with Ms Batohi after you had read MR CRONJE's statement and after you had heard, if not all then a substantial portion of his testimony, you signed this statement in which you make no mention of MR CRONJE offering to fix or throw a match.

MR ARONSTAM: That is correct. But I tell you what, if you go to the gentleman sitting across the road from me, when we met on Thursday and I bet you now that he has notes in front of him which were taken down at that meeting, he can give it as evidence to this court, to my statement to him last Thursday in note form that he had taken down, and at that meeting exactly what I am saying here today, I told Graham and Vincent in detail. Nothing has changed.

MR DICKERSON: I take it from what you say Mr Aronstam that you have no problem with the notes of your consultations with the Commission's investigators, from your side, being made available to us?

MR ARONSTAM: From my side I have no problem, as long as they are happy to give it to you I have no......

MR DICKERSON: Then something else. For the first time we heard out of your mouth today a statement which you attribute to MR CRONJE, it was never put to him either by Ms Batohi or by Mr Blumberg that he told you that Bojé, Strydom and Gibbs were to use, I think Ms Batohi's phrase, "in his pocket". Did you tell Ms Batohi that when you consulted with her?

MR ARONSTAM: Yes. I don't want to say - I am 99% sure I told Mrs Batohi that, I am not sure. I can't swear, but I think so.

MS BATOHI: Mr Commissioner I seem to recall that I did put this to MR CRONJE, that is my recollection. I haven't checked the transcript. My Junior is of the view that I definitely did, and so is Mr Fitzgerald.

MR FITZGERALD: With respect I am of the view that it wasn't put. That's my recollection, and Mr Whelan confirms that.

COMMISSIONER: I have certainly heard that expression during the course of today's sitting. I don't recall who put it to whom.

MS BATOHI: Perhaps we can look at the transcript at some stage.

MR DICKERSON: I might say Mr Commissioner that I have read that portion of MR CRONJE's cross-examination and a number of things were put, but that is certainly not one I can find. Let me put it to you this way then Mr Aronstam, do you have any explanation for the fact that it may, if it wasn't put by Ms Batohi, do you have any explanation other than that you may not have told her?

MR ARONSTAM: I think I told her, but I can't swear to it, but there's no doubt in my mind that - I don't know, I can't say for sure, but I think I told her.

MR DICKERSON: Do you know a bookmaker or a gambler by the name of Sanjay?

MR ARONSTAM: Never met him, no idea who he is.

MR DICKERSON: Have you ever spoken telephonically with or to somebody by the name of Sanjay or Sanjeev?

MR ARONSTAM: Never, ever.

MR DICKERSON: Do you have, either in your personal capacity or through your involvement with NSI any contact with gambling bodies, individuals or syndicates on the sub-continent?

MR ARONSTAM: I have no contact with any syndicate.

MR DICKERSON: That's only a part of my question. Do you have any contact with gambling bodies or individuals in the sub-continent?

MR ARONSTAM: I have a lot of friends in the sub-continent, I don't know what you want to call them, but they are definitely not syndicates and they are not a - I don't know how you are asking a question, but they are not syndicates, they are not Mafia bosses, they are not Sanjays, they are straight honest people and they have come to visit me in South Africa in the past, and nicer people you wouldn't meet.

MR DICKERSON: Yes we will rely on your assurance. Now just to go back a step to what you say took place in your meeting on the fourth day. As you were about to leave MR CRONJE asked you how he could make money out of cricket, and according to your statement, your reply to that question was, "the ball is in your court", is that correct?

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