WICB Wants Speedy Lara Bribery Probe

Wed, Jan 23, '02

The West Indies Cricket Board has written to lawyer Elliott Motley requesting he hasten his investigation into star batsman Brian Lara, according to WICB Chief Executive Gregory Shillingford.

The inquiry, set up in April, followed an allegation in a report published in November 2000 by India's Central Bureau of Investigation that Lara received $40,000 for playing badly in two one-day internationals in 1994. He was the only West Indian cited.

Each national board that had a player mentioned in the report set up an inquiry. All except the WICB dropped their investigations when Mukesh Gupta, an unlicensed Delhi-based bookmaker who made most of the allegations, missed a deadline to corroborate his evidence in July.

"The board is anxious and keen that Mr. Motley brings closure to the investigation as it's been going on for quite a long time," Shillingford said. "We received an interim report from him recently, and I don't think there was anything new in there."

Motley was unavailable for comment.

Lara, 32, holds the world record for the highest scores in Test and first-class cricket with his 375 against England and 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham, both in 1994.

On the tour of Sri Lanka in December, he scored 688 runs in a three-Test series, including three hundreds. However, he fractured his elbow in a collision with fielder Marvan Atapattu during a one-day match, and hopes to return to action for the home series against India starting April.

Shillingford said he understood the delay in the investigation as Motley is "an eminent" lawyer and his duties take him "to all parts of the world."

The CBI's investigation initially came to light in 2000 when then South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was exposed as having fixed matches. The United Cricket Board of South Africa banned him for life later that year.

* SOURCE: Bloomberg News.