2 Indians named in SA domestic fixing scam

Johannesburg, July 21

South Africa prosecutors have named two Indian nationals, Manesh Jain and Imran Muskan Shimji, in the case pertaining to alleged match-fixer Gulam Bodi in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court.

Former cricketer Bodi was born in India but played two ODIs and one T20I for South Africa in 2007. In January 2016, he was banned for 20 years by Cricket South Africa (CSA) after he admitted to fixing or trying to fix matches in the South African T20 competition in 2015.

Now his passport has been confiscated and he has been prevented from contacting any of the players he recruited. Reports from South Africa indicate that the two Indian nationals, Jain and Shimji, introduced Bodi to illegal betting syndicates in India. Bodi visited India in August 2015, two months before the South African season was to begin, and allegedly met Jain, Shimji and syndicate members, cricbuzz.com has reported.

In India, he learnt that players who agreed to spot-fixing could expect to earn $44,000 to $52,000 USD from each match, and Bodi himself was offered $11,000 per match. On returning to South Africa, Bodi recruited players for the fixing enterprise. Investigations implicated six other players in the spot-fixing scam. Bodi was caught when he approached Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Craig Alexander, KwaZulu-Natal Inland players. Van Jaarsveld reported the approach to CSA. Later, six players were named in the conspiracy to spot-fix matches. All of them were banned for up to 12 years. —Agencies