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Aronstam's June 23 testimony

MR BLUMBERG: Did you receive any gratuity from Hansie for giving him advice, or the suggestion of the declaration?

MR ARONSTAM: Sorry, I didn't understand properly.

MR BLUMBERG: Did you receive anything from Hansie in return for your so-called advice regarding this particular declaration? At Centurion, for yourself, did he give you anything? Did you ask him for anything?

MR ARONSTAM: I never got nothing from Hansie, no.

MR BLUMBERG: Except the jersey.

MR ARONSTAM: Oh, yeah, sorry. Sorry, I forgot. Sorry. I asked Hansie would it be possible to get - as what happened was, the next day in the newspaper exactly what I thought. Every single newspaper said Hansie is the hero, Hansie this, Hansie, that. And deep down I said, 'You know what? He's getting all the credit, but at the end of the day it should be my credit, because this is all my idea.' And I said to him, 'Would it be possible to get your jersey, signed by all the players and given to me as a souvenir?' So the night that I went back - the first time that I went and I only gave Hansie the 30 000 was because I couldn't get enough cash at the bank that day. Normally in today's times because of the way we live, bank's don't just keep that type of cash on hand. So I gave him the first 30 000, I went back the next night with another 20, and there it was. My shirt was signed, autographed by all the players, and I said, 'At least I've got a souvenir of the ...(intervention)

COMMISSIONER: The most expensive cricket shirt in Christendom, I should think. We'll take the adjournment now.

COMMISSION ADJOURNS AT 13H02

ON RESUMPTION AT 14H05

MARLON ARONSTAM: (s.u.o.)

COMMISSIONER: Mr Blumberg.

EXAMINATION BY MR BLUMBERG: (cont) Thank you, Mr Commissioner. Mr Aronstam, will you please continue reading from your statement, I think you're up to paragraph 30.

MR ARONSTAM: "I phoned Hansie Cronjé that evening and we discussed the game. He was of the opinion that if Paul Adams had not broken his fingers, South Africa would have won. He was also of the opinion that aside from Paul Adams, if towards the end he had given away a single and put the new bats on the strike, they might have been able to get the final wickets, but at that stage every run counted. We all know that Allan Mullally is not that good with the bat. It turned out in the press that the declaration Hansie Cronjé had made, including the fact that he was declared man of the match, that he was indeed a cricketing hero and he had restored his image in the game of cricket. I phoned MR CRONJE the following day and he thanked me for my idea and said that basically he owed it all to me. I asked MR CRONJE if it was possible for me to come and see him at the hotel and he agreed. I went to the hotel and I gave him an amount of R30 000 in cash and told him I would bring him another R20 000, and that this money was for the one-day test series in which I requested him to provide me with pitch reports. I also requested him for his cricket jersey to be signed by all the players, which he arranged for me. The next day I met him again at the hotel, where I gave him the balance of the R20 000 in cash and he handed me the jersey signed by all the South African players. We also discussed the upcoming triangular series in South Africa, and I discussed with MR CRONJE the system of having a pinch hit(?) in the side. I told him that Australia had been very successful in using Adam Gilchrist, and due to the fact that they were going to be playing Australia very shortly, they need to come up with some idea of how to beat the Australians. I was indeed very surprised when in one of the one-day games, the game after we'd just discussed this, a wicket fell and out came Mark Boucher to bat. And one of my friends called me, he said "Marlon, are the new South African coach?" This did not work at this particular game, but we still discussed it with each other over the telephone that it was worth a try and South Africa still got a good score. For the rest of the one-day series I'd received regular SMS electronic reports on my cellphone from Hansie Cronjé, about the pitch."

MR BLUMBERG: Mr Aronstam, now with regard to the amount of money, the R50 000 you had paid to him, would you have paid him the R50 000 if there had been no declaration at Centurion?

MR ARONSTAM: Definitely. With the information that I believed I could get from Hansie Cronjé, it was worth every cent.

MR BLUMBERG: Fine, carry on please.

MR ARONSTAM: "I further phoned MR CRONJE and asked him, when he was in Johannesburg again for the last one-day game at the Wonderers, whether it would be possible for me to bring my son to have breakfast with him at the hotel. I met him together with my young son for breakfast and I gave him a further amount of R3 000 in cash, together with a ladies black leather jacket for his wife, which was mainly due to the fact that he had given me some very good and well judged pitch reports in the one-day series. Particularly noticeable was a pitch report in Port Elizabeth, where he told me that it's a very dry wicket and will take turn and a good score will anything over 220. At one stage 250 looked on the cards, but as the wicket got a bit older and drier, the ball was very difficult to get away. The pitch report was superb."

MR BLUMBERG: Did you benefit financially as a result of this good information?

MR ARONSTAM: Yes, I made money that - I made money on the game and that's where I decided, in nature of the pitch report, he deserves an extra bonus.

MR BLUMBERG: Carry on.

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