West Indies middle-order batsman Marlon Samuels. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):

WEST INDIES batsman Marlon Samuels is under investigation for alleged links to an Indian bookmaker during the West Indies' tour of India earlier this year.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's world governing body, disclosed yesterday that it had sufficient grounds to call for a probe after considering a report and the recommendations of its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit concerning allegations of inappropriate activity by Samuels in India in January.

"(The board) has instructed the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to carry out an investigation into the matter, and then to report to an Official Enquiry," a statement from the ICC said.

"Such a report is to be compiled in a timely manner and to be submitted no later than January 31, 2008."

Investigation being expanded

The investigation is being expanded after Indian police claimed Samuels passed on confidential team information to a bookmaker on the eve of the first one-day international in Nagpur on January 21.

The ICC disclosed that the investigation will focus on two specific breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct.

The first relates to a player receiving "money, benefit, or other reward (whether financial or otherwise) which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute."

The second concerns whether the player "engaged in any conduct which, in the opinion of the (ICC) executive board ... is prejudicial to the interests of the game of cricket."

The WICB is to submit its report to an official enquiry which will comprise the chairman of the ICC's Code of Conduct commission and two Code of Conduct commission members not connected with the WICB.

The group would then review the findings of the WICB investigation and make recommendations to the ICC board as to whether it was carried out to an acceptable standard, and if the regional governing body's sanctions are appropriate in relation to the nature of the offence.

When the allegation was first made in February this year, Samuels denied passing any information to the bookmaker.

Nagpur police officials said they had taped alleged telephone conversations between Samuels and a bookmaker. The city's police chief, S.P.S. Yadav, said they had no proof of any illegal monetary transaction nor of match-fixing.

An ICC team then met the Nagpur police to begin its own probe.

India won in Nagpur by 14 runs and the four-match series 3-1. Samuels took none for 53 and scored 40 runs in that game.