The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday launched an appeal to find the one remaining suspected match-fixer from a recent documentary. The appeal is part of an extensive investigation by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). The programme makers have indicated that the alleged fixer, known as Aneel Munawar, will now be central to a second documentary.
"We have identified every other person in the original documentary and have spoken to a number of them in connection with match fixing, including those who are not deemed to be participants under our Anti-Corruption Code," Alex Marshall, General Manager ICC ACU, said.
"However the true identity of Aneel Munawar remains a mystery. He plays a significant role in the programme, yet enquiries with law enforcement and immigration sources have not identified or located him. As such we are appealing to the public or anyone from within the cricket family to contact us with any information that will lead us to identify and locate him. Police investigations often use such an appeal to locate people of interest and we are exercising the same approach," Alex said.
He also said that the absence of any cooperation from the broadcaster has slowed the investigation, but they have been able to make good progress in identifying people of significant interest including people already of interest to the ACU. "We have been able to discount a number of claims made in the programme and continue to pursue other aspects. We will provide a full update at the conclusion of the investigation," he said.
He added that the ACU is aware that there is a second documentary in the offing which are based on historical recordings between a fixer, suspected to be Munawar and bookies in India. Alex said that like the first programme, the ACU will investigate any claims made in a full and thorough manner and will take allegations of corruption, historical or contemporary, extremely seriously.
"Based on what we already know, we have engaged the services of an independent betting analysis company to examine the claims made about particular matches. As with the first programme we have, and will continue to ask for the cooperation of the broadcaster. Access to the raw, unedited footage enables us to build a complete picture around the claims in the documentary and ensure our investigation is as fair and thorough as possible," Alex said.
