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Cassim's June 26 testimony

MR CASSIM: I can't tell you that, why he said that.

COMMISSIONER: Do you think perhaps he was trying to distance himself from you

MR CASSIM: No, I don't think so.

MS BATOHI: And then on the 24th. The 23rd was the match that I've just told you about, South Africa versus England in Bloemfontein. You made two calls on that and then on the 24th you made 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 calls to Mr Cronjé. One of them - well, I beg your pardon, you made 1, 2, 3, 4 calls to him. The fifth call he made to you on the 24th, and that was at 10 past 10 that night. Now the calls were - the first call you made to him on the morning of the 24th was for 122 seconds, so that's quite a long call, it's not just, 'Hi, hello, how are you?' And the last call that he made to you that evening is 173 seconds. Now there is - that's on the 24th. There was no match following on the next day. There was a match, South Africa versus England in Newlands on the 26th. Now why on the 24th? Can you explain those five calls between you and Mr Cronjé on the 24th?

MR CASSIM: It's going to be very difficult to explain why on those day was there five calls. I can't recall everything.

MS BATOHI: Yes, and on the 25th you make 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7 calls to him on the 25th. Can you explain that? What was the purpose of all these calls, 25th, 26th?

MR CASSIM: Like I say, the ...(intervention)

MS BATOHI: 24th, 25th, sorry.

MR CASSIM: Adv Batohi, like I say, the person that I am and my nature, I will pick up the phone and phone all the players at any time. I know we're going to carry on with this, but I would phone the players at odd times, any time, sometimes 4 to 5 times a day, just to talk to them.

COMMISSIONER: Miss Batohi, sorry to interrupt your cross-examination. These figures under the column 'duration' ...(intervention)

MS BATOHI: That's the seconds.

COMMISSIONER: Are they seconds?

MS BATOHI: Yes.

COMMISSIONER: Well, how do you account for the two calls on the 25th of January, near the foot of the page, where it's 0.2 ...(intervention)

MS BATOHI: It should read 23 and 35 seconds.

COMMISSIONER: Seconds?

MR CASSIM: Well, if that's the way that is styled, 0.35, I can understand it. In other words, no minutes, 35 seconds. But these other numbers, 3, 4, 23, 6, are those all seconds?

MS BATOHI: Yes, I've just spoken to my investigator and he's been dealing with this. He says when you get these cellphone records, some of the MTN records reflect it in that fashion, 0.23 meaning 23 seconds. And the others are also seconds.

COMMISSIONER: Alright. Thank you.

MS BATOHI: You see on the 26th Mr Cassim, there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 calls - 6 calls between - you in fact made all 6 of those calls to Mr Cronjé. The first one started at 10:48 in the morning. The next five calls are between 23:17 and 23.55, that's just before midnight. So in the space of about 40 minutes that evening, well late that night, you were desperate to contact Mr Cronjé. It wasn't just as a friend saying, 'Hi, hello.' You made 5 phone calls to him, the last one at 5 to 12, midnight. Why were you desperate to speak to him that evening?

MR CASSIM: Once again, was there a One-day match? Probably I needed tickets.

MS BATOHI: Well, there was a One-day match, but it was over. It was on the same day.

MR CASSIM: I can't tell you then why I was calling him.

MS BATOHI: It seems like calls in desperation. You wanted to make contact with him, and you knew that he'd have no problem with you calling him at midnight.

MR CASSIM: I don't think so. Like I say, Adv Batohi, if you go through my cellphone records, I mean not only with Mr Cronjé, with all the other players, including my friends, if I can't get hold of them I become very agitated, and I can phone them us to 10 times in 20 minutes.

MS BATOHI: Well, that's exactly what your contact with Mr Cronjé reflects. On the 27th then you make 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 calls to him. There's one call that's particularly long, 212 seconds. And then on the 28th you make just two calls to him. On the 29th - and that is the day on which, on our evidence, Sanjay left London for South Africa and arrived in South Africa on the 30th. On the 29th you make, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 - 16 phone calls to Mr Cronjé on the 29th. That's the day Sanjay left London. Can you explain that?

MR CASSIM: I can't explain it to you because like I says if Hansie didn't answer his phone the way I look at it here, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, why I phoned him, I can't tell you why I called him.

MS BATOHI: I'm telling you why you called him. You knew Sanjay was on his way and you had to introduce him and you had to make the necessary arrangements. Isn't that correct?

MR CASSIM: No.

MS BATOHI: Your last call in fact to him on the 29th is at 23h46, it's quarter-to twelve, 15 minutes before midnight. You're obviously desperate to phone him, contact him. You make 16 calls that day. Can you explain that?

MR CASSIM: Like I said, I can't explain it Adv Batohi why I wanted to get hold of him.

MS BATOHI: On the 30th you make 28 calls to him on 30th, which is the day that Sanjay arrives. The first call to him is at 7:20 in the morning, and the last call is at 21h43. They're all pretty short calls, a couple of seconds, which would indicate that you're trying to contact him. Why were you desperately trying to contact him, 28 calls on the 30th? Can you explain that?

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