Former South Africa cricketer Gulam Bodi has been named as the player charged by Cricket South Africa for being the "intermediary" in a fixing scam during the recent Ram Slam Twenty20 competition, according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. Indian-born Bodi, who played two one-day int'ls and a Twenty20 for South Africa in '17, "has not played professional cricket for more than a year." Netwerk24, an Afrikaans newspaper, "named him on Thursday morning as the figure at the centre of the fixing ring who was charged in December." When contacted by Netwerk24, Bodi said, "No, absolutely no comment. Sorry." Cricket South announced on Dec. 16 that a person had been charged with "contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects" of the '14-15 domestic Twenty20 competition. It is understood that two other former int'l players "are facing the lesser charge of failing to report an approach" (TELEGRAPH, 1/14). In London, Paul Newman reported before now Bodi's "main claim to fame" was being the cricketer who "indirectly caused Kevin Pietersen to leave South Africa and throw in his lot with England." The left-arm spinner "was preferred to a young Pietersen in the Kwa-Zulu Natal team because of the demands of the quota system." CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat said, "Our attitude to corruption will always be one of zero tolerance and we are confident we have the procedures in place to deal with any corrupt activity" (DAILY MAIL, 1/14).
GANGULY RESPONSE: ESPN's Nagraj Gollapudi reported the Board of Control for Cricket in India's ombudsman Justice AP Shah has asked Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly to respond, by Jan. 28, to an "allegation of conflict of interest relating to his role" on the Indian Premier League governing council. The allegation, received by Shah from a member of the public, is that Ganguly "has a commercial tie-up" with the RP Sanjiv Goenka group, which has a stake in the Atletico de Kolkata football club in Indian Super League and, in December, "secured the ownership rights to run the Pune franchise in the IPL." Shah has also written to BCCI President Shashank Manohar and GM Game Development Ratnakar Shetty "seeking a BCCI response" by Jan. 27 (ESPN, 1/14).
