New Delhi: While the 11th edition of Cricket World Cup kicks off on Saturday, the shadow of corruption and match fixing is chasing the quadrennial event.
The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of International Cricket Council (ICC) has submitted a dossier of 100 suspected names of the bookies and the honeytraps to the police forces of Australia and New Zealand —joint hosts of the World Cup 2015.
Out of 100 names submitted in the report, 95 are said to be Indians and include an actor-turned-bookie arrested and jailed in the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal. Some key bookies involved in 2000 fixing case also makes the list with other hard-core Indian bookies.
According to English daily Hindustan Times, beside one Mumbai actress, two women from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also named as suspected honey traps used by the bookies.
For the first time in the history of the World Cup, the ICC has signed a memorandum of understanding with the police of the host nations to help nab ‘corrupt personnels' who, according to the ACSU, are trying to lure young players with expensive gifts and women.
The New Zealand and Australian governments too, have introduced legislation that makes fixing matches, or attempting to do so, a criminal offence.
“Spot-fixers are almost like paedophiles in how they attempt to groom players to whatever suits the nefarious intentions in terms of illegal betting,” ACSU chief Ronnie Flanagan had said last week.
