Interpol offers its services to halt corruption
The Iternational Criminal Police Organisation, Interpol, has offered its services to battle corruption, rampant betting and the influence of the underworld in cricket.
With the aim of preventing organised crime getting into cricket, Interpol secretary general Ronald K Noble, on a two-day tour of India, held consultations with ICC president Sharad Pawar and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla. “We would like to have a prevention programme put in place, when there are incidences of young players, agents and officials taking money to fix matches. We know these young players are easy targets of unscrupulous (elements) and illegal gambling gangs. We want to prevent these young players from being corrupted,” Noble said.
The Interpol secretary general described the meeting with Pawar and Shukla as ‘cordial’ and ‘positive’.
Asserting that the same techniques are used by corrupt players in cricket and football to make money by altering the outcome of matched, Noble said the tie-up would be on the same lines as that with FIFA, football’s world governing body.
In May, FIFA agreed to provide $20 million to Interpol over a 10-year period in an effort to help tackle the menace of global betting and to keep an eye on the activities of match-fixing syndicates. With support from FIFA, Interpol is coming up with a dedicated centre at the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore for promoting Integrity in Sports.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director AP Singh said the tie-up with Interpol would strengthen the anti-corruption apparatus of cricketing bodies. The idea of the tie-up between Interpol and cricket bodies has come against the backdrop of three Pakistani cricketers being convicted by a British court for spot-fixing, which highlighted rampant betting and corruption in the game.
