ACU sleuths to remain vigilant during World Cup

The executive director of the World Cup, Dr. Ali Bacher, has promised to keep the event clean of corruption.

He confirmed that he had a meeting recently with Sir Paul Condon, the head of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and South Africa National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to ensure that over a hundred undesirable elements , whose names are on a list, which was handed by the ACU to NIA remain banned from attending the World Cup.

It was agreed that the names should not be circulated to anyone other than the concerned agencies that is ACU and NIA.

The NIA, he said has received the list and that it would act upon Lord Condon's recommendations.

It is believed that no player is on the banned list but the organisers will be restricting the use of mobile phones by players to try and make it difficult for operators intending to corrupt the event.

In India, the New Delhi police Commissioner, Dr K K Paul, has also recently confirmed that those listed as undesirables would be denied visas to South Africa which implies that there are a number people from India on the banned list. However, Dr Paul pointed out that this would not address the matter of undesirables already in South Africa.

In South Africa, lawyer Itzy Blumberg, respresenting two South Africans Hamid Banjo Cassim and Marlon Aronstrom, who were mentioned in the the King Commission's report during Hansie Cronje match-fixing and bribery case, said his clients were in the dark about the list of banned people.

"Nobody (Aronstrom or Cassim has heard a thing. The list is a mystery. I have seen nothing published," said the lawyer.

"I have asked Aronstam to get in touch with his contacts in India and they said they would get back to him in the New Year. Apparently they have not heard anything themselves in India," he said.

A spokesman from the office of media accreditation, also confirmed that applications filed for media accreditation are also being thoroughly scrutinised by the ACU and as soon as the applications are given a green signal, the applicants will be informed by e-mail which will be very soon.

The participating teams will start arriving in South Africa, from Jan 20 and surely a number of media personnel from electronic and print media from all over the world will be arriving to cover various assignments. However, many fear that despite official accreditation of the ICC for the media, there will still be problems for the press to cover matches in Zimbabwe where already two British media men were refused visas when they made an attempt to go there to cover ICC delegates meeting to survey security in the country.

Pakistan recently played a series there without any problems but earlier Australia refused to go to Zimbabwe.