ICC calls on Al Jazeera to share evidence

The International Cricket Council has called on Al Jazeera to release evidence relating to fixing allegations levelled at players from Australia and England.

International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson has publicly called on Al Jazeera to release all material relating to fixing allegations levelled at players from Australia and England.

A documentary from the Qatar network put the cricketing world in a spin at the start of the week, airing claims that two Australians and three Englishmen were involved in spot-fixing during Tests against India in 2016-17.

But the sport's governing body is still waiting for the production team to hand over evidence that would help them assess the veracity of claims.

The ICC's anti-corruption chief Alex Marshall, who is investigating the allegations and taking them "extremely seriously", privately asked for Al Jazeera's raw footage in recent months.

Earlier this week, Marshall publicly requested the network share information to "enable us to expedite a thorough investigation".

Those requests fell on deaf ears, prompting Richardson to take the unusual step of releasing a statement late on Friday night.

"I ask Al Jazeera to release to us all the material they have relating to corruption in cricket," Richardson said.

"To prove or disprove these allegations, we need to see the evidence referred to in the programme.

"We will conduct a full, thorough and fair investigation and will ensure no stone is left unturned as we examine all allegations.

"To do so, we need to see all the evidence they state they possess.

"I am encouraged by their public commitment to cooperate and now ask that they do so, in releasing all relevant material."

Richardson added the ICC fully respect the need to protect journalists' sources, noting his anti-corruption unit has "worked with other media companies on that basis".

The ICC's statement came after a spokesman for Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit suggested the ICC's complaints showed "a failure to understand investigative journalism" and "no self-respecting media entity in the world releases its evidence to any party pre-publication".

The broadcaster has withheld the cricketers' names, offered up by alleged fixer Aneel Munawar to an Al Jazeera reporter posing as a wealthy businessman in the documentary, for legal reasons.

Australia skipper Tim Paine and England captain Joe Root were quick to rubbish the allegations earlier this week.


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Source: AAP



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