DOHA: Doha-based media company Al Jazeera’s war of words with the International Cricket Council (ICC) continues after it was accused by the game’s governing body for not supplying it with evidence of match-fixing prior to broadcasting a documentary, ‘Cricket’s Match-Fixers’ that has stunned the cricketing world.
In an article on its official website, Al Jazeera’s investigative unit hit back at the ICC for its ‘failure to understand investigative journalism and no self-respecting media entity in the world releases its evidence to any party pre-publication.”
It also mentioned that the criticism of ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit head, Alex Marshall also “overlooks the fact that concerns about … the ICC’s own governance of the game are a significant theme [and cause for concern] in the programme itself”.
The ICC had co-incidentally failed to take strict action when it came to the pitch condition during the Sri Lanka vs Australia Test match in Galle in 2016, the same match which has been accused of pitch-fixing for betters to earn money, in the documentary.
“As our documentary shows, Al Jazeera is fully committed to exposing betting corruption in cricket and we have made it clear that we will cooperate fully with the relevant authorities.”, a spokesperson of Al Jazeera’s investigative unit added.
“The unit (ICC’s Anti-Corruption unit) has to respect the fact that there are on-going sensitive legal considerations, including potential criminal investigations into the match-fixing allegations in Sri Lanka and India.
“It is in this context that we are considering the ICC’s request for our unedited material. We will not take any steps that might compromise any civil or criminal proceedings that may follow.”
The ICC is yet to respond to allegations claimed in the documentary about a match fixer, reportedly working for India’s most-wanted criminal, Dawood Ibrahim bribing anti-corruption officials for manipulating the result of a match.
