Former South Africa batsman Gulam Bodi has been banned for 20 years by his country's cricket board after he admitted that he was planning to fix matches in a domestic Twenty20 competition.
Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat announced the sanction on Monday.
Bodi was charged with several counts of match-fixing at a hearing on December 31 last year, Lorgat said. He has until January 18 to respond to the charges.
Lorgat said investigators believe Bodi was caught in the "planning stage" with regard to trying to fix the domestic games late last year but the probe was still ongoing, and could take "weeks, months or even years."
"We are fortunate ... that several players rejected his approaches," Lorgat said.
Bodi retired from cricket last year and didn't play in the Ram Slam Twenty20 competition or a warm-up tournament that was also targeted for fixes.
He was previously named by Cricket South Africa as a suspected "intermediary" between betting syndicates and players in the competition.
"CSA thoroughly considered all the relevant factors and determined that a lengthy ban was appropriate," Lorgat said.
Under South African law, the cricket body also had to report the corrupt activity to criminal authorities and Bodi could face a jail sentence.
Current players could also be involved in planning fixes. Some players reported Bodi's approaches to them, Lorgat said, but media reports have named former South Africa test wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile as being suspected of accepting money from Bodi to organise fixes.
Lorgat declined to comment on those reports, saying he would not confirm or deny any that current players were also under investigation.
The 37-year-old Bodi played two one-day internationals and a Twenty20 game for South Africa in 2007.
The investigation reopens wounds in South Africa following the Hansie Cronje scandal, when South Africa's Test captain was banned for life for fixing in 2000.
Cronje, who died in a plane crash 2002, was one of the country's most popular sports stars and one of the game's leading names and the scandal rocked South African sport and world cricket.
Lorgat said that five years of the 20-year ban from all cricket-related activities for Bodi had been suspended provided he took part in anti-corruption education programs when asked to by CSA.
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