Former Proteas fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe has admitted that he is being investigated by authorities in the match-fixing saga involving Gulam Bodi but insists that he has never accepted any money from Bodi.
Wisden India reported on Thursday that Tsotsobe is one of the players being questioned as part of the probe into match-fixing in the RamSlam T20 Challenge tournament in South Africa late last year.
Former Lions left-handed batsman Bodi was banned for 20 years from all cricket activity recently by Cricket South Africa for his involvement in the scandal, as he had approached players to contrive to fix parts of matches during the T20 tournament. He could still face criminal charges at a later stage, as CSA have handed all evidence over to the police.
Cricket South Africa said at the time that they believe no players went through with any match-fixing activities.
But now left-arm seamer Tsotsobe has remained on the sidelines and hasn’t played for the Lions since the end of the T20 tournament, and has returned to his home province of the Eastern Cape in the meantime.
“There’s a lot of speculation going around. I’m not going to entertain anything, but Cricket South Africa can do anything they need to do to check if we did any match-fixing with the people that they are investigating. So we’ll wait for them and see,” Tsotsobe told Wisden India.
“I’ve given them (the investigators) everything they want. My phone bills, my messages, my bank accounts, everything. They said they would get back to me.
“I just feel that there’s a lot that’s going on in my life. I’ve spoken to the (Lions) coach and he’s the one who gave me the time off. I don’t have to explain myself to any other person. If the CEO and the coach know, then I think I’m cool.”
But Tsotsobe was non-committal when he was asked by Wisden India about whether he had spoken to the Indian fixer who worked with Bodi. “That we can discuss with Cricket South Africa. If you want to know anything more about what’s going on, you can ask them.”
Cricket South Africa have maintained a firm “no comment” policy on the matter, outside of official statements.
It is believed that there are eight players – including Tsotsobe’s captain at the Lions during the T20 tournament, Thami Tsolekile – are being questioned about the match-fixing probe and their involvement with Bodi, while there are several others who could be wrapped on the knuckles for not reporting a possible match-fixing approach.
Wisden India added that a Dubai-based Indian fixer – who was apparently part of the Hansie Cronjé match-fixing scandal – is one of four Indians who tried to affect the outcome of the T20 matches and was in South Africa for the entire tournament. – African News Agency (ANA
