Lara
Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
LONDON -
WEST Indies batting star Brian Lara is not guilty of betting on the game and thus breaching the ICC Code of Conduct or breaking civil laws in South Africa.
The former West Indies captain was last week accused of betting on the game during a triangular one-day tournament in South Africa in 1993 but according to the man who is supposed to have placed bets for him and who reportedly paid him his winnings, nothing like that took place.
In a letter to the West Indies Cricket Board, Stanley Behrman, the Cape Town bookmaker with whom Lara is accused of placing bets, said he knew Lara socially but Lara had never placed bets with him and he had never sent money to Lara.
Last week, Bronwyn Wilkinson, communications manager of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said a statement handed to the UCB's lawyer, Clifford Green, by a Cape Town businessman would be forwarded to the King Commission which is conducting an inquiry into match fixing in Cape Town.
According to Wilkinson, the statement was also to be forwarded to the ICC.
The statement, by an unidentified Cape Town businessman, claims Lara placed bets on games during the 1993 tournament, that he was told by Behrman about the bets and that on behalf of Behrman he handed Lara an envelope containing more than 4,500 pounds in cash representing winnings.
In a reaction to the accusation last week, Lara said it was false and in a release Pat Rousseau, president of the West Indies Board, said the board believed Lara but he would order an investigation into the matter.
It is understood Behrman read about the accusation in a newspaper, contacted the management of the West Indies team now in England, spoke to manager Ricky Skerritt, spoke to Lara and attempted to make telephone contact with Rousseau who is also in London.
Behrman also spoke to Lara's lawyer, Jonathon Crystal. The letter to the West Indies board was copied to Crystal.
It is understood Behrman stated in the letter that he knows Lara, but it is on a social basis, that Lara never placed bets with him, there was no passing of information on anything to do with any cricket match and he cannot understand why anyone would want to tarnish the cricketer's image.
